


Atlantic

by bonbonpich



Series: At the End of the Day [2]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Hate to Love, Love/Hate, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-11-29 13:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18223907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonbonpich/pseuds/bonbonpich
Summary: KuroKura. Sequel to the Sun also Shines at Night, prequel to Carry On. They were supposed to be enemies. Yet, fate was starting to change bit by bit.





	1. an Empty House

**Author's Note:**

> hi :) I'm just trying to pick up my pace for this series.  
> This one is the calm after the storm (TSASAN) and the calm before another storm. Hope you enjoy.

 

**Chapter 1 an Empty House**

Everything was quiet.

A little peace of mind was something Kurapika had always been longing for since lately. He believed that he wouldn't be able to find real tranquility in this life unless his two goals had been accomplished. One was to retrieve all of the flame-colored eyes. And another one, to put an end to the people that destroyed his Kuruta clan. As of yet, he seemed to be far from both.

His green eyes drew open, and he worked his brain into alertness.  _'Okay, still on the airship.'_  He pushed himself up on the bed and no longer felt lightheaded, his fever had broken. Beside his bed, the digital clock read 11pm.  _'I've slept only for a few hours._   _He said we'll have a stopover before continuing to our destination.'_ His brain was wide awake at the thought as he voiced, "Kuroro."

Next to his bed was a chair with two sets of books, doubtless classified as finished and unfinished ones. The man responsible for those items was nowhere in their private cabin.

Weird as it was, Kurapika had been waking to Kuroro's presence for weeks. He had not noticed how strange it felt not seeing the man until then. That in mind, he slapped his forehead with an open palm and let out a soft sarcastic chuckle, followed by a sigh. "What am I thinking?"

Just as the door to his room swung open, Kurapika jerked his head up.

Kuroro was there, face betraying nothing as always. He closed the door, strode purposefully in the room and placed himself on the chair. While Kurapika gazed at him with uncertainty, the man leaned towards the boy, but remained intact on the chair, his elbows on his knees. Only then, did his poker face break into a faint smirk.

The boy's face twisted into a frown, he sank backward into the bed. "What?"

"You called me, did you?" The man said in voice that contained controlled amusement.

"No, I didn't," Kurapika blurted without a thought.

"Yes, you did," he countered.

 _'I did?'_ Kurapika searched his memory and  _'oh.'_ Before he could say, act, or even think of anything further to that, Kuroro's chuckled. "It didn't mean anything." His voice came out calmer than he'd expected; a good a sign. He wouldn't want to waste energy being pissed every now and then the Spider head got on his nerves.

A cold hand came into contact with his forehead, causing Kurapika to shut one eye but remained the other opened to take in the situation.

"Good, you've learnt your lesson." Kuroro gave him an approving smile.

"Hold on, was that to test me?" Kurapika asked, his voice restraining a slight frustration.

"Yes, and no," Kuroro answered, but he shifted his gaze sideways, having a second thought. "I'm more inclined towards a 'no' though." He said as he withdrew his hand, keeping a small amusement to himself that Kurapika made no attempt to bat his hand away. Before the boy could ask for a reason behind his answer, he changed topic, "That aside, how are you feeling now?" he actually knew the answer to that. He wouldn't have left the room in the first place if the boy hadn't broken the fever.

"Fine," Kurapika nodded along with his own answer.

"Good, we'll be arriving at Ralph Airport in three hours. From there, you'll catch another flight to Attique City," Kuroro informed and as expected, the boy gave him a questioning look. "It's a change of plan. I've just discussed with my comrades; everything didn't go according to arrangement. Nobunaga, Machi, Franklin, and Coltopi faced some complication midway to Ryuuseigai. Phinx didn't want them or us to go either, so I ordered them to scatter. But-" Kuroro paused, not losing the line of conversation, but rather unsure of how to explain a certain circumstance.

"They insisted on seeing you again?" Kurapika supplied knowingly. Kuroro's head bobbed with the briefest look of awkward expression which didn't escape his keen observation. Kurapika's eyebrows lifted, as seeing that expression on the man's face was odd.

"We'll meet them at Melb City, probably next month."

The city was only three days travel away. Puzzled, Kurapika questioned, "Next month?"

Kuroro went straight to the point, "Like I said, I will have to fight with Hisoka tomorrow. I wouldn't want him tailing me since we'll be spending a bit of time in Attique and other places along the way to Melb, I told him to hold our battle in another city. Hence, you'll go to Attique first. When I'm done, I'll catch up with you. I take it that you wouldn't want to have anything to do with our fight anyway."

Thinking Kuroro's words over, Kurapika nodded. But he didn't really get the whole picture of this trip. "I don't get it. Why Attique?"

Instead of giving a direct answer, Kuroro asked back, "Weeks ago, did you manage to find your clan’s eyes while you were in Attique?”

Mildly annoyed that his question was answered with another question, Kurapika frowned a bit. Then again, he figured it wouldn't do any good so he opted to reply, "No, I ran into you first, remember?”

"Of course.” Kuroro chuckled then he disclosed, "You were right, Kurapika. The flame-colored eyes are there."

Kurapika's eyes lit up in anticipation. His hands pressed the sheets absentmindedly as he pushed himself up and leant forward in his sitting position. "The flame-colored eyes…there?"

Kuroro was amused at the boy's reaction, of how open he’d become with him by said statement. He was acting on his own accord without guarding his expression or demeanor. Kuroro nodded, "You followed the right trail, if there was any…they are in the area of the café we met."

Untold to anybody, Kurapika had agreed to Nostrad assignment, no matter how ludicrous it sounded, because he had a dream with faint images of his Kuruta clan leading him there. No matter how uncanny it seemed, Kurapika just couldn't rule that out that there might be a spirit guiding him. Although for the past five years, through all the bad chapters of his life, he was left to himself completely without direction, save for the cries of his people that he heard in his head. Then suddenly…this.

Kurapika sorted the man's intention about his bringing this up.  _Does that mean Kuroro was going to lend a hand in retrieving the eyes?_  It raised the question, "So, we'll…go look for the eyes?" The boy found himself asking.

"You said 'we' Why, I'm delighted," Kuroro said with a small grin. When the boy responded with a fast clap over his mouth, he chuckled and corroborated, "To make it even better, we'll just have to retrieve them, without having to search. I know where they are."

Almost allowing his heart to leap with anticipation, Kurapika had to hold himself from that as he realized one thing, "Wait, why are we…no…Why do you-" He was lost for words, but that was all he needed to get the message across.

"Why am I doing this?" Kuroro shrugged nonchalantly. "Back then I did say that we'll go search for Kuruta's eyes once our business is over, didn't I? I'm just keeping my words." He watched Kurapika's face progress from thinking to recalling, and ended up in doubt. Kuroro's brows furrowed as he pointed out, "You  _didn't_ actually believe me."

Hearing the unusual tone of disappointment, Kurapika wiped away the doubtful look from his face. Although it did raise another question, "But…you'd do that when I was considered a part of Ryodan. Now I'm not, then why…"

There was a look on Kuroro's face that Kurapika could imagine if the man was Leorio, the man would have yelled his ears right out to dead for asking so many 'why's.  _Why (again)_   _couldn't Kurapika just accept the offer and be happy with it?_  Well, he couldn't. His mortal enemy, treating him this way. It was a long way out of his expectation, out of his rational thoughts and logic.

Fortunately, Kuroro was probably the most patient (if not apathetic and listless) being he'd ever encountered. The most he did was sigh in monotony. "I will not bother myself getting the answer for you on that one. Think about it yourself." Not giving a room for further discussion for that matter, he moved onto the next subject. "When you were in Attique, where did you stay?"

Dissatisfied with how Kuroro dismissed his question, Kurapika looked away for a moment. Soon after, he decided it was no good of him acting like a dejected kid; he complied to go Kuroro's way for now. "An inn located on the western city border."

"I see. There is an empty house, located on the city border in the east. It situated next to the sea, and the Attique forest is its backyard. You could go there if you like. It is the only Victorian-style house with deep crimson roof. I stayed there a day prior to meeting you."

"Okay," Kurapika nodded. When he actually processed Kuroro's words, he jerked his head to the man. "You were there a day before we met?" When given a nod, Kurapika started thinking to himself again. This time, it seemed that Kuroro could read him though.

"You were there a day before we met as well." Kuroro said, more of a statement than a question. The discreet silence that followed meant 'yes' to him. He laughed with the air of contentment. Only when Kurapika threw him a spearing glance did he stop.

Still, he couldn't contain the single word clouding his mind. "Fate."

"Coincidence," Kurapika retorted halfheartedly.

While he let Kurapika glared on, Kuroro pondered aloud, "Come to think of it. I’ve known for years that York Shin holds the auction annually, I've never planned on robbing there until this certain year that you just happened to be there." He fixed his thoughtful gaze on Kurapika. "If our paths crossing is a coincidence, then it sure is happening  _an awful lot_ , don't you think?"

The boy practically growled and hoped to have a decent comeback by saying, "That coming from a man who said how we met was just a petty accident?"

"Hmm?" Amusement in Kuroro's tone was obvious. "Things I've said back then still bother you?" Kuroro gave a disapproving shake of head, "Kurapika, you need to learn to forget that kind of nuisance." One look at the boy, and he knew his opinion was useless for him. Kurapika might have learnt to control his temper…more. But to forget what had been done upon him? When hell freezes over. "Well," Kuroro said while lifting his gaze upward, then back to meet Kurapika's. "At that time, I  _didn't_ know what had happened wasn't insignificant incident as I've said to you. It was just  _beyond_  that girl's prediction."

Blinking, Kurapika jerked his head away. So much for his attempt to counter, but was the only one affected by it. He couldn't help the feelings inside of him, causing by Kuroro's words. Why was Kuroro saying things to make him feel…liberated from the words that contracted his heart to aggravation weeks back?

Reading the atmosphere and sensed it change for good, Kuroro decided to backtrack, "Anyway, if you prefer an inn or a hotel, I don't mind too. Just let me know where you are," Kuroro said and added after. "Even if you didn't, I'd find you eventually. Or perhaps coincidence would lead us together again." He couldn't resist that line.

"Cut it out. It doesn't matter." Impatience marked his voice, but Kurapika ignored Kuroro's nag to the best of his ability. Mentally, though, he couldn't help the thought that crossed his mind:

_If the search for the Kuruta's eyes here at Atttique City was led by the spiritual guidance, could the encounter with Kuroro in Attique be led by the same unseen force?_

"Fine. What matters is-" Kuroro took turn to look at him in the eyes and asked, "-would you wait for me there, at the Attique?"

Kurapika realized that it would be the first time Kuroro would let him out of the sight completely. Without him being sick this time, he was bound by no obligations. The uncanny of all was how the man had delivered the question. Kuroro wasn't looking for a positive answer but allowing him the luxury of choice?

_Oh well, that was probably because there was only one answer._

But instead of saying he had no other choice, Kurapika nodded, "Of course." He was even more surprised that his own answer made Kuroro smile. The kind of smile that described how the man was put at ease by it.

Between them, things were getting more and more  _unusual_.

No sooner than Kurapika stared at the man did a terrible pain occurred out of nowhere, stinging his eyes. He clasped his hands over his face with a pained gasp. He felt a hand on his shoulder right away.

"What's wrong?"

Gritting his teeth, but hiding it behind his tight lips, Kurapika shook his head. Kuroro had seen him in pain enough; he’d hate anymore of this, even more so when Kuroro no longer hid his concern. Somehow, the man wouldn't comply with his dismissive gesture. He grabbed hold of his wrists.

"Let me see," Kuroro demanded.

With an insisting force applied, Kurapika was obliged to let go. His vision blurred but his skin felt Kuroro's touch on his cheeks. Mentally, he was greatly bothered by this but tried not to show it on his face since the man was right in front of him.

Kuroro steadied his face in his hand, pretty much the same way as he did back then. The Nen-sealer was gone for good and Kurapika's Nen had returned. What else could go wrong? By using Gyou, he found out. "Remnants of Nen. Eyes are sensitive organ of the body. No doubt the after effect of Nen would still cause your eyes pain to some extent. But it should be fine in a couple of days."

"Oh," Kurapika managed to respond, after the pain wore off to a tolerable level. He found relief in Kuroro's words. Even when his eyes recovered from the blurriness, time was needed. So only when he saw things a bit clearer did he realize Kuroro was still holding his wrists. His mind would have screamed the man to let go already, yet he didn't. All he could do was stare back.

Silence passed on by as both looked as if they had something to say, yet they found nothing to say to each other, and only ended up making no move as if frozen in time.

Until both, had simultaneously tore their eyes off from each other and turned their eyes to the door. It was Kuroro who spoke first. "Feel that?"

"Behind the door. Not a Nen-user," Kurapika responded in a low tone as he came up with the most possible circumstance. "Probably they're after my Hunter-license" His voice was a bit dragged, bored.

Kuroro's eyes shifted from the door to Kurapika, studying his composed feature. "I assume this isn't the first time, is it?" As soon as he finished that, he got himself up, eyes centering to the door. Before he made it anywhere far, a hand snatched at the hem of his shirt.

"It's my problem. I'll take care of it," Kurapika stated as he pushed himself up. That very moment, Kurapika wished his eyes were somewhere else rather than witnessing Kuroro's face.

Kuroro looked upset, even in that kind of poker face.

"But your eyes-"

"I don't need my full Nen ability to do this," Kurapika said, brushing past Kuroro.

While he heard a mumble, "I'm not taking that risk," he was hurled back by the hands that seized his arms. Losing balance, he stumbled back to find himself landed on the spot he'd been occupied earlier, the bed. Glancing up, he knew the man was going to take matters into his own hand. "Hey-!"

"Don't worry. I won't kill anyone," Kuroro smiled at him, and jabbed a finger downward, "So just sit back and behave like an ailing person. To make it even better, go behind the bed," he said, commanding than asking.

"I'm not-"

"Time's out." Kuroro cut his words short and shoved him.

He tumbled and fell on the other side of the bed. After regaining his position, Kurapika growled at no one since Kuroro was far at the door already. The man pulled the door open and slipped out of the room.

Kurapika rushed to the door, partly fearful for people's lives. Yanking the door opened, he was relieved to find the group of people just scattered away in different direction, with incoherent fearful cries but without any bloodshed. They had been armed, and yet hightailing away without so much as a one single gunshot.

What could Kuroro have done?

Too late to chase away these people himself in the less damage means possible, yet wasn't late to stop Kuroro from trying to go after them (and God knows what he'd do with them), Kurapika caught a hold of the man’s arm.

Kuroro turned to him, unnerving. "Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

"And what made you think I have to obey your word?" the boy returned, equally unnerving.

Kuroro exhaled a short breath. Then having realized just how much he'd come to sigh these past few weeks since having Kurapika around. His hand pressed at his temple. More often than not, his sigh wasn't out of boredom, but of weariness. It occurred to him now that Kurapika could get on his nerves as much as he did with the boy.

That was one secret to take to his grave.

"Right. Okay, would you go back in the room,  _please_?" Kuroro mocked requesting. Once Kurapika did so, with a light scoff, Kuroro followed. He closed the door behind him and started, "Carrying Hunter license brings a burden too, eh?"

"It's not a big deal," said hunter responded, his tone unconcerned.

"It still means you're being followed," Kuroro pointed out as he took his seat in the chair while Kurapika sat himself on the bed next to it. Then sensing it again, his head turned to the door. "What now?"

"What?" Kurapika questioned, following the man's direction. Surprise caught him when Kuroro looked back at him, face slightly twitched into a frown.

"You don't feel that?" The man asked. After getting a blank expression from the boy, he rose. And again, Kurapika's hand seized him. Before he made another move, the aura he felt behind the door was gone. Only then did Kuroro looked back at him and explained, "A Nen-user. Not as near as strong, but still a Nen-user with good use of Zetsu. At your level, you should have felt it. You didn't?"

Kurapika shook his head with a slight bothered expression.

"Your control of Nen hasn't returned entirely. I assume you’d have to wait out for a day or two, just like the state of your eyes," Kuroro said as he studied him. "Are you going to be all right by yourself?" Kuroro asked. He had to give his strangest look to the man. Kuroro added, "Your Nen…you wouldn't know if a Nen-user is nearby."

The explanation at the end failed to serve much as his indifference, Kurapika was already flabbergasted.  _Kuroro was worrying about him?_  For whatever reason that was. "I'll be fine. My senses still did catch on a bad intention. By the way, not every Nen-user is a threat. This guy may have nothing to do with us." Kurapika was even more stunned with himself to look at things in a positive way as such.

Well, one of them had to be. If not, someone's blood was going to be shed.

With those words, Kuroro couldn't help but fix his eyes on Kurapika. He decided against saying what was on his mind. He had no idea how Kurapika had made it until now as the last living Kuruta. What he knew now was that Kurapika had been made public by the Mafia's underground site. Kuroro had made sure he'd eliminated everyone involved at that time, but there must have still been a leak of information. Someone who was interested in getting the Kuruta eyes, or probably the last living Kuruta himself. It wouldn't be a surprise if someone was to pursue Kurapika.

That thought alone  _bothered_  Kuroro so damn much.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

After midnight, they arrived at the airport. Both being top-notch travelers, they skipped quite a few processes for tickets. Thus, they went on getting themselves a schedule to a different destination.

"Maybe you should come with me," Kuroro said minutes away before his departure.

"No way, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Hisoka and you and when you guys fight," Kurapika responded curtly, making a face. "I'll wait for you at Attique." Seeing the sudden change of Kuroro's attention, Kurapika followed the man's sight of direction. Behind him must be have been someone that Kuroro was surely suspecting. But Kurapika couldn't see no one out of ordinary among the ocean of crowd at the airport.

He wasn't even sure if there was someone after them, Kurapika turned back to Kuroro. One look at the man and he knew even Kuroro might have had only caught glimpse of the suspicious individual.

"He's fast," Kuroro said as he moved towards the direction he suspected, and away from his terminal.

There was something inside of Kuroro that Kurapika could see through. That kind of eyes Kuroro had were the same as back there at the Mafia mansion. Kurapika had to reach out and stopped him. "Hold it! Are you thinking of wasting away that guy!?"

Keeping his eyes far ahead, and expression blank, Kuroro ignored Kurapika at first. But then he couldn't help it but look at him when Kurapika rounded from behind and situated himself right in front of Kuroro. He had to let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, caving in. "Fine, I won't kill."  _'For now.'_ "But that's only because I trust you to not be harmed while I'm away. So don't get hurt or worse,  _kidnapped_  like the last time."

Kurapika's face colored, retorting, "I was sick!" As soon as those words left his mouth, he felt stupid. Why did he have to defend himself like a child?

"You still are, and your eyes aren't working properly. Same goes with your Nen," Kuroro pointed out the obvious.

"I'll manage," the boy said, closing his eyes in detached manner.

"If anything comes up-"

"-I'll make a call, got that." Kurapika heeded the man's advice. He reopened his eyes and fixed a stare on the man's slight surprise face, "That's the last call for you. Off you go!" He shooed the man away, shoving his hands on the man's back.

"Okay," Kuroro said, almost inaudibly. Before he began to walk the direction that the boy was pushing him to, he reached one hand out and lightly brushed against Kurapika's cheek. "See you then." With that, he turned and walked away.

To Kurapika’s favor, Kuroro never looked back, else he would have seen Kurapika so out of place. Who was he to have his face feeling like it was on fire? Who was Kuroro to have done such a gesture with him? Above all else, why didn't he feel like decapitating Kuroro's hand? With those line of thoughts, Kurapika's face twitched in resentment, embarrassment, but amongst these things, it also brought a somewhat warm feeling he couldn't quite describe.  _'Urgh, what the heck…'_ Deciding it’d be a bad choice wrecking his brain over it, he made his way to his terminal.

Kurapika got onto the airship. No sooner than he did that, he felt eyes on him as he strolled along the corridor of the airship. Stealing a quick glance, he still saw no one. Kurapika hated to get too ahead of himself. But he took Kuroro's words for granted. Whoever had been tailing him must have been unearthly fast. Otherwise, Kurapika would have noticed it, regardless of his Nen's status.

 _'Oh well,'_ Kurapikahoped he was wrong.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Once the airship landed, Kurapika headed out of the airport. He no longer felt the indication of pursuit. He sighed in relief as he’d hate to leap into any unnecessary battle.

To Kuroro's prior housing, Kurapika went. In front of what seemed to be an old mansion, the gate lock was rusted shut with small limbs and thicket of plants. Not bothering with undoing the lock, he leaped up over the fence to get to the other side.

The front door was locked too, of course. Kurapika circled around the house and got in through the window. Only when he was inside the structure did he realize that he should have got some form of lights with him. He'd been too used to having Kuroro lighting the candles whenever they stayed in places such as this.

_‘Holy crap, I’m feeling a lot like a break-in.’_

Not that he minded, he'd been living through all kinds of condition in the past five years, breaking in an abandoned residence was a part of it. Given that the Kurutas never carried money and associated with the outside worlds, they had everything they needed in their own land.

Back when Kurapika had to leave his hometown, he barely had a cash to put himself into a decent bed. He could have used gold and silver from his clan, but he didn't have a heart to do so when all the bodies of his kins were six feet under the cold soil. Only when he had become a Hunter did he start to allow himself the luxury of comfort.

His head jerked at the thought. Shaking his head, he willed those memories away. He wouldn't want to worsen things now that he was actually started to feel better…at peace.

The two-story house was old and only a bit dusty, thanks to the clean air in Attique. Most of the furniture were somewhat intact. The place seemed abandoned in recent time. Checking around the house a bit for something he could use, he found candles and the remains of them in the huge hallway and in one master bedroom on the second floor. Kuroro had been here after all.

Kurapika lit the few candles where needed and settled himself in the hall. Nothing to do besides to wait, putting himself in this passive position. The night was a bit chilly and time sure passed by so slow for a waiting Kurapika. Old furniture made subtle sound, the grandfather clock struck an hour, the candles hissed with flames from time to time; other than these, everything else were quiet.

He continued to sit in solitude, staring at the flames. Something crawled past right in front of him: a mid-sized spider. The flame reflected Kurapika's eyes, but they no longer turned red by the sight of a spider.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Miles and miles from where Kurapika was sat with occupied mind, two Nen-users were engaged in a deathly battle. Once exchanging another fatal blow, they distanced themselves onto opposite ends of the open field in hinterland surrounded by high, blue-colored terrains.

"I am not amused," Hisoka said, his eyes narrowed.

Kuroro kept silent, his mind reading the atmosphere. The former-Spider number 4 seemed to be bothered to a great extent. What could be bothering him now? Didn't he get what he'd asked for? Weren't they fighting themselves to death right at this very moment?

"You're not even thinking about stealing my ability," Hisoka stated.

 _'And isn't that good for you?'_ Kuroro wondered.

"Are you sure that you're giving me all you've got? I can't believe I'm not feeling bin-bin!" Last two words came out almost as a screech in Hisoka-ish way, furious and perverted. He slapped his hand against his forehead, his body twisted in snake-liked fashion.

 _'I just want this to end, especially when he's like that…'_ Kuroro thought sourly, his eyes strayed to the side, avoiding an eyesore from the jester.

"You just want this to end quickly."

Kuroro blinked. More often than not, Hisoka couldn't really read him, at least not as much as to know what his intention was. This time, it seemed like he did.

"Are you worrying about  _something_  that you don't have a heart to fight?" Hisoka must have felt the sudden change in atmosphere. With a mischievous smile, he went on, "Oh, hit the nerve, didn't I? Come to think of it, where is he? That little Kuruta of yours."

Then it dawned on Kuroro. He bit out, "I see. You informed those kids about Kurapika's capture because you want them to take him away from me."

Hisoka's nod, along with that sly smile got Kuroro thinking. If Hisoka's desire was to get Kurapika out of the way so he could fight him, then why bother telling the kids about Kurapika when he declared that he'd kill Kurapika when he found him. Unless Hisoka still wanted Kurapika alive for whatever reason, then he must have not expected Kuroro to kill the boy.

If it were for the latter reason, then Hisoka must have known what was going on. Was it the same with the entire Ryodan? Remaining silent, Kuroro kept his face neutral. But what did he know about his face? If Hisoka's taunt struck a nerve, did that mean his face gave something away? Something even unknown to himself?

"Unlike you, I do worry. Things like: I hope my unripen fruit isn't killed by someone else, because that person has to be me," Hisoka said and pointed straight to Kuroro, "You don't know how to worry before, but now you're feeling it. And it's affecting our fight – it ruins our fight, or merely the fun and the thrill of it."

Kuroro made a 'huh?' face, working to register what Hisoka meant. It was true, the feeling he was having right now. The fact that his mind wasn't entirely on the fight but miles away from here where the last Kuruta could have been, was foreign to him. To worry about something, was… _new_.

Hisoka's face switched from expression to expression, like he always did. Then it came down to the thirst-for-blood look on his face as he finally said, "If I kill Kurapika, would you have a heart to fight me?"

They let the silence pass by as Hisoka studied his former leader closely. Kuroro's face was shrouded in darkness under the cover of huge clouds above that passed by in the night.

"Hisoka."

"Speaking at last, eh?"

"If you do that, I will not fight you… _at all_."

"I see, calm as ever. You might have caught on me, but your vibes said otherwise. That explains a lot."

"Let's end this fight," Kuroro said, disregarding Hisoka's riddles. He strode purposefully to Hisoka.

"Right, let's end it now," Hisoka responded, and surprised Kuroro by drawing his decks of cards with one hand, allowing them to be blown away by the wind. Once his hand was empty, he clapped and smiled in sweet demeanor. He then turned his back to Kuroro as he spoke, "It ends here."

"Huh?" Kuroro uttered with a slight frown.

"It's over. I don't want to fight you when you're not here. I've waited for years, to wait longer than this is a pain. But that was when I have thought you've already ripened." He craned his head enough to glance at Kuroro, "But now  _I see it,_  even when I've never expected that this, so to say - exclusive relationship of yours with Kurapika - could even ripen both of you  _more_. Especially  _you,_  Kuroro. When that time comes, I'll claim you both."

 _'So that's that for now?'_ Kuroro had stopped a distance away from Hisoka.

The jester began to walk away, "I'll go back to the Ryodan after months to see what I said is true. See you there,  _Danchou_."

"Hisoka."

The jester stopped, looked back, sensing the importance of this call. Nothing but graveness stared out of Kuroro's dark eyes.

"Kurapika is  _mine_."

Hisoka's only response was a smirk. He turned around with a wave of hand and disappeared into the night.

Left in the middle of battle ground, with somewhat unfinished business, Kuroro let out a long sigh.  _'Not only the Hunter License bounty, the Mafia and whosoever wants a claim on the last Kuruta, and now Hisoka…'_ Kuroro's eyes widened at the flow of thoughts. He couldn't shake this feeling of off him since he had left the airport. He lifted his gaze to the sky where dawn was coming and trailed off in the air. "Worry, huh?"

_'This isn't the first time though. This is the same feeling that I had when Kurapika was taken away from me. Are they the same?'_

He had yet understood it. Somehow, a faraway past came across his thoughts. With Kurapika, it seemed like the boy had just brought back what he'd forgotten as his humanity…once.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back to the east of Attique, Kurapika was getting impatient. He didn't like the feeling he was having right now. Was he worrying? He knew he couldn't deny it, but to worry about his mortal enemy was absurd.

He picked himself up and walked over to look out the window, the sky was red with dawn. Then his eyes strayed lower on their own to search for the ground where a person he was supposedly waiting for would arrive. When he realized what he was doing, he shoved his hands on the window ledge and closed his eyes. "No, I'm not worrying about the bastard. Only if he dies, I would lose the source in finding the eyes, that's all there is to it." Then again, he felt so stupid of vainly trying to convince himself.

"Hey."

Kurapika's head jerked, swiftly spun around.

Kuroro was standing right where Kurapika had been sitting earlier, with his usual apathetic demeanor, face typically expressionless. Aside from those, his overall looked completely torn up and so wreck, much the worse for wear. Well, Kurapika had a first-hand experience to what one would look like when he fought with Hisoka.

For a moment, he was at the lost for how to react. The man must have already came in a while ago.

"Has anyone followed you?" Kuroro asked first thing.

Struck by a question he didn't expect, Kurapika found himself having to stumble for words, "Eh…No?"

When Kuroro's poker face eased into what seemed to be a relief, his eyes fell upon Kuroro's form. Surely, there must have been at least one awful wound under those garments that Kuroro worn. From the looks of it, standing upright was already a difficulty for the man.

"Good," Kuroro said, smirking. "You don't look like you've slept too. Stayed up waiting for me?"

"Well, who could sleep in situation like that?" Kurapika bit back, but his voice was surprisingly devoid of sour tone. He observed Kuroro for a while. It seemed like the man wasn't going to mention about his fight with Hisoka, therefore Kurapika wouldn't pry.

"You should get some sleep. We won't be looking for the eyes until this late evening because-" Kuroro's eyes suddenly become heavy. "I have to take a nap-" he'd yawned, "-if you don't mind."

Flabbergasted at how child-like Kuroro Lucifer had reacted, Kurapika gaped, but regained his composure once a small chuckle from the man floated over. He nodded. The man had after all, didn't sleep at all since he'd come to – so to say rescue. On that note, he said, "I'm not rushing as that."

"Hmm?" Kuroro's face was etched with pure surprise before he smiled.

Again, Kurapika wasn't sure what he was seeing was real. Kuroro's expression became so unwind, something he'd never expected. Did he hit his head when he fought with Hisoka?

"See you when I wake then," Kuroro said as he turned his back to the boy, "But do call me if something arises." With that, he made his way away.

"Ah! Wait!" Kurapika called without thinking. Once Kuroro looked back, he didn't really know how to put it forward, "Aren't you injured?"

"So what?" Kuroro asked in ignorance.

"Er,"  _Was Kuroro dense now?_  "You know…my ability-" He didn't finish, sensing the negative atmosphere around Kuroro.

For a long moment, Kuroro stared at Kurapika with an unreadable expression, before it was shown in a disapproval stare. "Kurapika. You have to know that  _this_ is not the reason that I want you with me."

Kurapika was taken aback, but gave a piece of his mind, "Of course, I know. Even if that’s the case, you know damn well that you can't use me." Kurapika took one step forward, fisting a hand in slight frustration that he couldn't find the right words. "Just that-!"

Kuroro waited as the boy didn't finish. He tilted his head, curious, "Just what?"

Half of Kurapika's mind was reeling with the need of reason. Yet he couldn't think of one. Jerking his head away, Kurapika looked anywhere but at the man. Frustration was written on his face, and an aggravated noise escaped his throat, "Nothing – wah!" He gasped when Kuroro’s hand pressed against his temple, then circling it as if teasing. He almost glared at the man, almost. For when he looked up, Kuroro was smiling warmly at him. The kind of smile he'd never imagined would be on the Genei Ryodan leader's face.

"Thanks, but I'm fine," Kuroro said, and retreated his hand. He turned around, "Now I'd like to sleep, if you'll excuse me." He turned around again, and walked away.

Kurapika didn't follow, but his eyes did. Until the moment the man swayed but quickly regained his posture before he reached the stairs to the second floor, Kurapika had to step in. He grabbed the man's shoulder, and while Kuroro hadn't anticipated that, Kurapika shoved to park the man down on the third step of the stairs. The gesture was far from gentle that Kuroro hissed, his face etched with pain.

"Ah? It didn't work." Kurapika said in disappointment. "I expect you to clutch where it hurts so I can locate the injury since you're not going to say it. Seems like you don't normally do what everyone would do."

"And you're the one to say?" Kuroro said with a mock grin, pain still lingered on his face. Kurapika, honestly, I'm fine-" His saying was cut off by his own grunt in pain. It seemed like their positions were switched. This time, it was Kurapika's turn to catch him off guard when the boy's hand pressed against his mortal wound.

"Here?" Kurapika asked, lifting his eyes to Kuroro but he didn't wait for a response, instead, slid Kuroro's overcoat aside and lifted his shirt to examine the purplish mark on the pale skin on the man's sides, "Broken ribs?"

"You don't have to-"

"Would you just tell me so I can get it done and over with? You let me heal you back then before, why not now?" Kurapika reasoned, but received a grim stare from the man.

"That wound might have weighed on your conscience, this one doesn't. You're going to regret doing this," Kuroro warned, seizing Kurapika's advancing hand. That did it; the boy was stunned and speechless.

Kurapika's insides seemed to be battling for a long moment. But when Kuroro was about to push himself up, Kurapika didn't let him. "I might, but I can't let you walk around with these injuries." Out of his own words, Kurapika's mind finally produced something plausible to justify himself. He spoke, "You're going to help me find the eyes, right? How far could you go with these injuries?"

Kuroro seemed like he was about to laugh. Was it too obvious that that statement was thought of only a moment ago? But he could see how persistent Kurapika was. He finally yielded. "Two. Lower right ones." Then on his second thought, "Are you su-"

"Please shut up," Kurapika bit and concentrated on his Holy Chain.

Another amusement to Kuroro. Only this little Kuruta who had the nerve to cut him off and ordered him to shut up. Left with no choice, Kuroro watched on as the boy healed him, feeling his pain alleviate in an instant. He observed Kurapika’s face and noticed. "You don't look quite happy, but you held nothing against this."

"I would appreciate you holding back your comment," Kurapika said as he retracted his Chain Jail. He looked to the side, with the far away expression.  _'When you came back, I'm not even sure what my feelings are. But there's a relief there. I don't really know what to do with that.'_ Trying to push the thought aside, he got himself up and told the other as well, "Now you can go away."

"Right," Kuroro responded but before going away he placed a hand on the blond head. "Thanks, I appreciate that."

Pretty much the same way he did before, he left the boy stood stunned at the very spot.

That was the end for the day. For the first time since Kurapika was forced to join the Ryodan, he was given a free space to sleep separately from Kuroro. The morning was spent with six hours Kuroro's sleeping before he woke up at late noon. By then Kurapika was nowhere in the mansion; Kuroro then went knowingly into the woods closed to the premise, finding Kurapika there as expected.

The boy was sitting on one of the boulder; he had his eyes closed in concentration. But they opened when Kuroro ambled towards him. Kurapika looked at the man while his aura floated in calm wave about him.

"How are your eyes?" Kuroro asked.

Letting his aura subside, Kurapika turned to acknowledge him. His face seemed a tad bit surprised, most likely at Kuroro’s feature but he didn't take it into account. "Fine now, I guess. Hasn't hurt since then."

Kuroro, now, dressed pretty much the same way as when Kurapika met him back at the Attique. No overcoat, just the long sleeve shirt and trousers in black; hair was let down, making him looked years younger than his age.

"Good," He said with a smile. The smile that made Kurapika wanted to throw something at him just because it looked too innocent for his own good.

"I feel like breakfast…and coffee." Kuroro said.

Kurapika couldn't believe what he'd just heard. "Excuse me?"

"I’d like a decent breakfast. And I'm sure you need it too. Let's go grab something to eat; I know a good café near here." Kuroro said, pointing a finger to some particular direction to prove his point.

 _'Kuroro…going to a café?'_ Kurapika's jaw dropped slightly, but he collected himself.  _'Okay what's wrong with that? He was technically human after all, he needs food.'_ Just that for the past times he'd been with him, all they'd been eating was the food his Spider's comrade had brought (by means of stealing, Kurapika reckoned) for them. Edible, but not really a good food. And they'd only eat in their living quarters, never in public place. They even barely ate, for that matter.

Talking about food, Kurapika had just realized he would need to feed his empty stomach before it eats itself too. So why not?

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 **Note:**  As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.

 


	2. the Other Side of You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroro's alter ego...  
> Kuroro and Kurapika making a deal...

_Special thanks: Yumii for beta reading._

**Chapter 2 the Other Side of You**

_He should have known._

It was the café of their second encounter, where Kurapika had seen Kuroro loitering about.

' _A good café near here, he say?'_ Kuroro must have been here more than once. That knowledge brought about annoyance to Kurapika. He'd frequented to this café more than any other ones in Attique. The food was good, the tea was great, and despite all that, it was not too crowded.

One more note to keep to himself.  _If Kuroro knew this, he'd mess with his nerves again._

When the waitress came to hand them the menu, both of them didn't bother to look and said in unison, "Benedict Egg Atlantic."

Kurapika looked incredulous while Kuroro wore a bit of surprised, child-like expression. But before he'd talk anything about it, Kuroro preferred if the waitress left with their orders first. He told the young lady: "-and a cup of Atlantic Coffee," then beckoned to the boy, "You?"

"Eh…Atlantic Tea." Kurapika said without thinking. He watched as Kuroro collected the menu on his and Kurapika's side, then handed them to the waitress in a civilized manner…even with what someone would call it a charming 'thanks.'

_What the heck was that behavior?_

Once the waitress left with a faint blush on her face, Kuroro turned a smiling face to Kurapika. That childlike expression still on his face. "You've been here often?"

"Eh? No," Kurapika stumbled upon his own words.  _No way was Kuroro going to mess with him about 'fate' a-frigging-gain!_

"Then why would you order without looking at the menu?"

"It's written on the blackboard in front of the café."

Kuroro looked unconvinced but let that part go when he came up with another one, "And seems like we have the same taste,"

"It's their special menu, many would have ordered it," Kurapika retorted.

"You know last time was the same too. You probably don't remember since at that time your mind was pretty  _occupied_  with me." Kuroro leant in towards Kurapika, his grin widening.

Kurapika’s brow twitched.  _What on earth was the Genei Ryodan leader getting at? Behaving like a normal human being and a damn happy-go-lucky one at that!_

"You look tensed," Kuroro commented.

_Straight to the point._  Kurapika had been trying to keep his face neutral but the surface was starting to crack with frustration rising up on it. Why wouldn't he be? Somehow it had reminded him of the day of their second encounter. Although this time things were different, he couldn't help the feelings that ingrained in his memory.

_And Kuroro was behaving…strange?_ Thinking back, Kuroro had been behaving this way sometimes back then too when they were in public eyes. Kurapika had always thought it was the man's act to blend in.

' _Is this his act? This innocuous smiling face of his.'_

Before he said anything, the waitress came back with a cup of coffee for Kuroro and a tea for Kurapika.

Still quiet, Kurapika only looked at the man who took a sip at his coffee and looked content. Seconds later, the man's gaze met Kurapika's observing ones as he said, "You've been _through_ a lot, Kurapika. I suggest you relax while you can. Don't worry, I'm sure the Kuruta eyes are not going anywhere. We'll just go for them after this."

Kurapika didn't know how to respond to that. True, maybe he wasn't as unwind as Kuroro was, but still. He retorted, "Hey, at least I'm  _sitting_  and  _eating_  with  _you_ , in a  _café_. What more do you expect?"  _He hadn't even choked it out of the man to where the eyes were, or tried to look for them himself. Hadn't he been patient enough?_

Came a chuckle.

' _What part of it is funny?'_ Kurapika wondered as he sipped his tea. Not long after, their foods were served and they started eating. The mood and atmosphere were becoming too light for Kurapika. His eyes couldn't stop stealing observations on Kuroro, whose expression and features made clear that he was having a good time.

The man was just too…too  _normal_ …for the lack of better terms. He'd spent a long enough time to figure it out that this didn't seem like Kuroro's act. Then where was that feared Genei Ryodan leader anyhow? Where was that menacing vibes about him? At the tail of that thought, Hisoka's information came back to him.

' _Spiders gather for a thievery. And after the task is done, he'd disappeared without a trace.'_

"What are you wondering about?" Kuroro asked with a knowing look on his face.

Caught off guard for a moment, Kurapika had to collect himself. ' _Well, if he offers to answer himself.'_ "Hisoka told me you Spiders gather once in a while for thievery. Once it's done, where do you normally go?"

"Around," Kuroro answered without so much as a thought. When the boy raised his eyebrow, he clarified, "Around the world, I mean. Just traveling, mostly places with historical sites and old texts."

"Eh?" Kurapika couldn't help but blurt. _Really? Did he just answer right away?_ “Hisoka said you're hard to track down…"

Another chuckle, and: "I'm not hiding from no one. I'm just cautious, especially those that are after me like Hisoka. But yeah, that's pretty much it."

The answer was…again, normal. Not what he had expected from the Genei Ryodan leader.  _Traveling?_  But the man was speaking the truth, that much he could tell.

"What do you think I do in my spare time? Killing? Robbing? All the time? No," Kuroro added with a faint chuckle.

Months ago, Kurapika would have taken that as snide remarks coming from the man attempting to provoke him, but here and now, Kuroro was saying that with the friskiest look on this face. There was no ill intent, no incitement in that line he'd just said. Nothing that could spur Kurapika’s wrath.

Still, that kind of innocuous look on the man's face made him wanted to throw something at Kuroro again, and therefore he did, failing to restrain it this time round. A handy object in a form of pepper shaker happened to be right next to him.

_Puk!_

A sound of said pepper shaker hitting right in the middle of Kuroro's forehead, where his tattoo was under that bandage wrapping around his head.

Kurapika's eyes went wide with the sight of what had transpired in front of him.

Managing to catch the fallen pepper shaker (from his forehead) in his hand, Kuroro's eyes drew shut in dismay as he put the pepper aside, deciding against his will to return the gesture. His lips curved into a crooked smile, obviously holding back displeasure as he opened his eyes to glare at his assaulter. He growled, "What was that for?" Then, he sneezed from the small pepper sprayed about him as an after effect.

Dumbfounded was not enough to describe Kurapika's expression. He was flabbergasted, to the point of shocking. Sure he had thrown the object quick and hard enough, but they both knew it wouldn't really bother with the Genei Ryodan leader's skull, but still…Why?

"Why didn't you dodge it?" The boy almost exclaimed, his eyes widening.

"I didn't see it coming," The man replied, rubbing a bit on his forehead with his brows furrowed.

" _Why?"_

"I didn't know hanging around you would be no different from my comrades. It was a mistake to let my guard down." Kuroro fixed his annoyed eyes on Kurapika. To his even more surprised, those dark eyes that weeks ago would have looked at him grimly, when Kuroro was annoyed at him, now transformed into a dejected look, as if he was a little brother being teased by his bigger bro.

That look resembled Gon's when Killua knocked him with a fist on his head whenever he  _just felt like it_ _._

_Letting his guard down? In front of him? Again?_

Then Kurapika couldn't hold it back in anymore. He set down the fork, putting everything aside. Then he leaned in a bit over the table to where the man sat across as his voice gotten lower, "Okay, seriously, what the  _hell_  is wrong with you? Did you lose a screw somewhere or did Hisoka hit your head hard?"

"Hisoka broke my ribs but you're the one hitting me in the head," Kuroro retorted, sounding like a hurtful little brother.

Stunned, Kurapika was rendered mute. One day, he woke up and Kuroro Lucifer was a completely different person.  _What is the world coming to!?_ A sudden urge to flip the damn table over filled him.

Seeming to know what the boy's mind was going through, a short sign escaped Kuroro's lips. He put down his fork as well as he half-heartedly wore a stern expression that he would wear in times of being the Spider leader. In a most subtle change of his tone of voice, he started, "Okay, Kurapika. I'll make myself clear. I didn't lose a screw nor did my head suffer a concussion. And no, you're not delusional. I'm sure you could tell I'm not faking it.  _This_ is who I am. It might be easier for you to see that this is my alter ego."

The boy's lips were parted slightly, still stunning. But he was all ears as he gave Kuroro’s his full attention.

"To my comrades, I have to be Danchou for them. You're not my subordinate; I need not be Danchou to you. Believe it or not, being Danchou all the time burns me out. As I have suggested to you, relax while you can, as I'm doing it now."

It took a while for that to sink in, then Kurapika comprehended the meaning of this. "So this is who you were before you became Danchou?"

A blink, and a chuckle. Yet again Kuroro was amused, "I didn't say that, but how did you figure that out?"

Shaking his head, Kurapika said, "Just taking a wild guess."

"A lie," Kuroro shot back with a knowing grin on his face.

His expression hardened but he couldn't be angry at the truth. He had a knack for reading people, but he could never read Kuroro, not well enough at least, up until this time. After all, the thirst for revenge had pretty much made him see nothing but red whenever he was around the man.

"I just have to tell myself to bear that in mind, else, I would think that you're out of your mind every time you're in this alter ego of yours," Kurapika muttered, eyes averted to his side.

"Think what you have to, I'm fine either way. As long as you take it easy…a bit more," he added those last bits, upon the edgy look on the Kurapika's face intensified. No last Kuruta was going to  _take it easy_.

He was not going to  _rest_ until he achieved his two lifetime goals.

As soon as that thought came to mind, Kuroro’s mood seemed to descend. He resumed eating in a detached manner as he said, "Eat. Once we're done, we'll go get the eyes."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Buried?" Kurapika echoed what Kuroro.  _Had he heard it right?_

"Don't worry. They're in a decent canister and decent spot to hide away from anyone. I applied nen to hold it in place as well." Kuroro explained as they were heading back to the other side of the forest that situated behind their current living quarters.

"Why were they buried? Haven't you sold all of them to Black Market?" Kurapika questioned as he fell beside the man's footstep.

"Most of them, yes. But the Kuruta eye was the only object that I wasn't a hundred percent sure about selling away. Therefore I kept two pairs in this city, just in case I feel like having them back. One is in my hideaway, another…we might have to work a bit on it, but it’s nothing we can’t handle." Kuroro halted as he lost the presence next to his side. He looked back and wasn't surprised to see the boy standing back a meter away, head hung low with his face darkened.

He knew the boy would fume at this explanation.  _Why robbed the entire clan of their lives to get the eyes just to sell them away later? Such a disgraceful act towards the deaths._ Not wanting a fight to start, he had to mediate, "Look, consider it a good thing that at the very least one pair of eyes didn't fall into anyone  _else_ 's hands. You could go all out at me of how things wouldn't have turned out this way if I hadn't taken them from your people in the first place. But what could you do now to fix that past? What's done is  _done_. "

After a short span of silence, Kurapika looked up at the man. The other was waiting for nothing but for himself to calm down. Kuroro's words and how he said it in such … compromising tone sank in. Weird as it was, Kurapika too, didn't want a fight. The man was right and after all he was leading him to the eyes. He just had to accept that fact. With eyes closed, he concentrated on quelling his surfacing anger. When he drew his eyes open, he resumed his walking and went ahead of the man.

"You're right. Let's go then," He said, surprised at his own words.

Behind Kurapika, Kuroro smiled.  _Did the boy notice at all that they already talked about the Kuruta clan? When Kurapika used to be so worked up whenever Kuroro mentioned about it?_

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

They walked in complete silence, going deeper and deeper into the forest.

A déjà vu feeling of the time they travelled through Lulu forest settled in Kurapika's mind. Although Atlantic Forest was much less hostile. The woods held no wild animals, save for the birdsong that hummed all along the way. The sound of the forest itself was audible with the rustle of leaves as a breeze blew through the canopy. A splash of sunlight on the tree surface and the shadow of the trees falling on plants and sandstone boulder below them. It was peaceful - so peaceful it yet again reminded Kurapika of his home town forest.

Yet this time things were a whole lot different from when they trekked through the woods last time. Kurapika was well aware it was particularly his feelings toward the Genei Ryodan leader, no…it was  _their_ feelings towards each other. He wasn't aware what he was doing at the time until Kuroro turned to regard him with a slight smirk. Only then Kurapika almost jumped and looked away.  _He wasn't looking at that man! He was just observing!_

Kuroro was amused by the color that adorned the boy's face. He anticipated how awkward things were going to get between them from now on. But awkward and Kuroro didn't go along in one sentence, that would leave the poor Kuruta boy facing that experience all alone.

"I was thinking though," Kurapika trailed off after one throat clearing.

To Kuroro, it was most likely that he wanted to break that awkward air about him. The raven-haired man found himself having to hold back his 'pfft' and put on an attentive face to the boy.

“Why Attique? I mean why did you keep the eyes here of all places?"

"Attique is one of the most peaceful cities in the world. Also known for its reserving of cultural heritages, artifacts, and histories. I don't keep anything in my place back at Ryuuseigai, I believe here is the rightful place since of all the places I've been, here's the closest thing to Rukuso Forest," Kuroro answered. Whether Kurapika would believe it or not, he  _had_ given a thought about this.

Kurapika blinked. For one, if this were under a normal circumstance regarding Kuroro's perception of the Kuruta heritage, it would have been an honor for the Kuruta clan. However, this was hardly the case. Still…it was enough to keep Kurapika's anger at bay. He was now, if sooner then he hadn't realized it, starting to give a  _damn_  to what Kuroro Lucifer was truly thinking, his perception and his intention.

Then another question dawned on him.  _He had too many questions for his own good!_

"Then…if you'll be giving me back the eyes, won't you feel like having them back later?"

The man fixed his widened, surprised eyes on him. Kurapika realized his curiosity just got the best of him, but should Kuroro looked that dumbfounded? Maybe he should follow up his point like  _'I'm not going to let you take it back.'_

Kuroro was firm in his response, "No, I will no longer feel like having those eyes back anymore."

Kurapika's frown deepened in inquisitiveness. "Why?"

Once again, Kuroro stopped and stared at the him in slight disbelief, making Kurapika wondered what was the deal.Then the man turned his attention away from the path they'd been treading on to amble towards Kurapika.

Amidst the tall towering trees, sunlight and shadow fell on surfaces with unruly beauty. Kuroro observed that Kurapika stood among it was such a meshing of nature. His one hand reached for Kurapika's cheek. The boy gasped but that was all he did. Next moment, Kurapika was still even when his thumb was brushing next to the boy's eyes. "Why would I want the other Kuruta eyes when I have you here?"

Every fiber of Kurapika's head retorted. But for what it looked like forever, he realized it now. His heart didn't agree with his head. It had been the second time already, this kind of touch from Kuroro…how much it was affecting him that he wouldn't be able to deny it.

_How long has it been?_  Five years prior to losing his clan, since someone had touched him with such affection? That five years ago had been none other than his parents and his fellow Kurutas. After the massacre, the thought of human contact never occurred to him. He didn't realize that something inside of him had died, and now Kuroro was reviving that part inside of him.  _How could that be?_

Not knowing what to do, he remained still as a tree.

"Yours are the most vibrant among all of them," Kuroro noted as he gazed into the last Kuruta's eyes.

"All of us are just the same," Kurapika stated, keeping his tone detached.

Drawing his eyes shut briefly with a chuckle, Kuroro defied him, "To me, you're different."

They were close; too close for Kurapika's comfort. Yet he wondered, was he really uncomfortable, or it was just his mind telling him this while his heart felt otherwise? Especially when their faces were inches away,  _how could he not see the reflections in Kuroro's eyes?_

They weren't as emotionless as he had always perceived them to be. With rays filtering through the tree canopy, Kuroro's usual dark eyes held the soft greyish-violet hue and something much more than the eyes of a murderer.  _How had he not seen that until now?_

Both stood transfixed to each other among the stillness of the forest.

Until…

Kuroro's sense suddenly picked up on the third party.  _Again._  He stopped, eyes searching the area surrounding them. The thought that someone had been tailing Kurapika had bothered him enough, not to mention  _interrupting_ his every damn moment was getting on his nerves, despite Kuroro himself.

_‘This guy must be done away with his interference.’_ That was Kuroro's foremost objective. He could deal with Kurapika's lecture later. But first, the death of this annoying Nen-user.

"Someone's following us?" Kurapika asked, catching on the man's behavior.

There was a three seconds pause from Kuroro before he said with his face turning one of mock sheepish, "No…thing is…I think we're lost"

"Excuse me?" Kurapika thought he had heard it wrong.

"We're  _lost._ "

"Ehh!?" Kurapika made a face.

"And I think…" Kuroro reached for the back of his pant pocket, not feeling the object he needed, "I forgot the map."

Kurapika stared at him in disbelief while the other continued to wear that lost child expression, even with a hand absentmindedly scratch the back of his head.  _Damn his alter ego again! Don't look so innocent!_ Kurapika sighed as he face-palmed. _If anything, he had himself to blame for allowing himself to depend on Kuroro and not bothering to research about this_ vast Atlantic Forest beforehand.

"We still have time. If we cover a bit more ground, I should be able to recall the trail," Kuroro reassured with a grin.

"Eh…" the blond's brow knitted, looking back at the man. But there wasn't anything else he could do anyhow, he just had to go with it. Though his mind kept racing,  _'What's with this Kuroro Lucifer!?'_

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Four hours later, the sun was hanging low on the horizon. After winding through moorland and highland, they found themselves on the trail that winded to a clear part of the woodland. Then the path led them into the deeper part of forested ravine before it ascended to the mountain plateau where the gorge situated between a row of high mountains on one side and a vast valley on the other.

"Finally," Kuroro said with so much accomplishment in his tone and the look on his face.

_‘Really, he didn't have to emphasize with that look.’_ _It was too unlike Genei Ryodan leader he knew._ Kurapika narrowed his eyes with the thought and slight exhaustion.

"It's here," Kuroro declared as he meandered to the gorge where the solitary gigantic tree was sitting. Its huge roots surrounding the tall tree that reached skyward, giving off the spiritual resonance of the forest. Kuroro knelt down to its root where two trunks bent over it.

Kurapika watched on as Kuroro reached to the trunks, his  _nen_  flowed from his hands to the trunks. Seconds later, the man lifted those huge trunks off of the roots below it like the weight was nothing. Once the heavy trunks fell to the sides and out of the way, Kuroro rolled up his sleeves and to Kurapika's surprise, started digging into the soil with his bare hands.

' _Oh well, he did say it's buried.'_ Kurapika followed suit. One look at the huge tree and he felt homesick of how he used to sleep in a treehollow when he was a kid. Forcing that thought aside, he reminded himself he came here for a purpose. Once on his knees, the slight strain on his legs eased. He'd been trekking through the woods high and low for the past hours due to Kuroro's  _lost._  

_‘Honestly, this man was showing too much unbelievable side of his. The next thing he could do was probably go chasing after a butterfly…wait, where did that come from!?_ ’

Without words, he mirrored the man's action. The soil wasn't that hard but it wasn't soft either. Kurapika found it a bit difficult on the task without the shovel while he looked at Kuroro and the man seemed to be doing it effortlessly. Kuroro's hand was nothing like a trained assassin like Killua's. How he could kill people with bare hands was beyond Kurapika.

How Kurapika didn't really mind when his hands touched Kuroro's so many times with the proximity now too, was beyond him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

One meter down the hole, the first glimpse of the hardened material came into view. After a bit more of removing the dirt out of the way, the shape of the cylindrical container was clearly seen by the two.

"Want to reach for it? Use your Nen to remove it." Kuroro suggested as he got himself up and stepped miles away to the nearby canal and washed the dirt off his hands. Glancing back, he could see the boy's anticipation looking between him and the eyes.  _'He must have not expected thing to turn out this way. This kid is just taking everything too hard on himself.'_

At last, Kurapika bent down to reach in with the utmost care. With a small amount of Nen applied, he drew the object out of the dirt hole and into the sunlight. There it was in his hands, a pair of his kindred eyes. Kurapika kept his eyes on them for a while. For having failed at retrieving his clan's eyes in the past months, this moment was washing him with a sense of fulfillment.

Keeping the distance, Kuroro fixed his gaze on the boy. He would have smiled if not for the plan that he had since the moment he  _lied_  that they were  _lost_ _._  His mind started the count…

_3…2…1_

One moment a smile was beginning to form on Kurapika's face, the next, the object of his attention was gone from his hands. Snapping back to his senses, his eyes caught the direction where something…someone had snatched the eyes right from his hands. It was that tall, lanky man who'd been following them around.

Up the rocky mountain, he skipped up and away from them. Kuroro already hot in pursuit, Kurapika raced after nevertheless.

_So all this time he had been after them_ … _no, most likely him in particular_. The fact that they hadn't sensed him meant he must have perfected his ' _In_.' Either way, this was no time to berate himself for being so careless.

Both the thief and Kuroro were too fast, the distance between them and Kurapika was beginning to form. Yet Kurapika kept up.  _‘No way in hell is the bastard getting away with this!_ ’

Finally, he made it up to the top of the summit where he almost caught up with Kuroro. But once he did, his eyes shifted south to the long way down. Vertigo washed over him. That man ran 90 degrees down the crag like it was nothing. Kurapika took a step but a firm hand on his chest prevented him to move further.

"Don't be reckless. You find another way. I'll get the eyes back," Kuroro demanded, in authoritative tone Kurapika hadn't heard in a while. And the man too, glided down the summit. In a matter of five seconds, the both of them were out of Kurapika's sight.

"Damn!" he cursed. He had to restrain himself from following them. As Kuroro said, he couldn't ninja down like them unless he risked his life for it. Among all the entangled thoughts, Kuroro's words stood out: he said he'd get the eyes back. Strange as it was, Kurapika believed he would.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Miles away at the bottom end of the tallest summit of Atlantic Forest, the thief came to a halt among the woods. Scanning his surroundings, he thought he was well ranges away from his pursuers. He settled down near a river and trailed off to himself, "Geez, this is far more taxing than I thought. But at least I don't have to kill that kid for the eyes."

"But I do have to  _kill_ you."

A deep baritone voice sent the chill down his spine. He dodged away with the eyes still in his arms and spun around. His eyes went wide at the sight of the man in black who had pursued him earlier.  _'Didn't I lose him just now!?'_ he thought and asked, "How did you...?"

The thief's expression was obvious to Kuroro that he hadn't at all expected someone to be able to catch up with him. "True, your  _In_ is flawless. I couldn't even pinpoint your location with my  _En_ , thus I had to lure you out." To distance himself from Kurapika, he knew the suspect was going to show himself. If he'd been following Kurapika, that meant he was after the eyes. As far as the world concerned, people who wanted to get their hands on the flame-colored eyes never wanted its owner to come along.

No one but Kuroro now.

"Seems like you don't want to trouble yourself getting the eyes from the boy, you'd fetch it from him." Kuroro disclosed. Normally, he need not talk much with the soon-to-die but this thief's  _In_  did impress him. He deserved some parting gift.

"And who are you? His bodyguard?" the thief asked as he clutched the canister tight, falling into a fighting stance.

Kuroro need not answer that. He was the one with questions here… _lots_ and  _loads_ of questions. But first thing first…he beckoned to the flame-colored eyes in the other's grip. He held out his hand, palm up. "That belongs to the boy, give them back."

The thief made a face. "You've gotta be kidding me, after all those trouble I've gone through…and you're going to kill me whether I give this back or not."

Kuroro's lips curved upward. "Fair enough." Kurapika could turn up at any moment, he had to finish this business before he did.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

_Pain. Pain. Pain._

That was the only thing that kept circulating through every fiber of the thief's being. One moment he thought he was going to get away with the eyes, out and alive. Confident that he was fast and could outrun this man. After all, he knew that Kuruta boy had a sharp sense but he managed to outrun him. His  _In_  was perfect - he made sure his escape route would not be pursued by anyone. One thing he had gravely miscalculated was this unknown man in black.

He'd been stalking the boy and this man on and off. At some point, the man had looked stern, otherwise he was just stoic. But most of the time, he was all unwind and relaxed.  _He couldn't even dodge a pepper shaker for crying out loud!_  He forgot the map when going into the woods and spent a whole lot of time getting back on the right track. He looked cautious at times, but no murder intent whatsoever that he could catch on.

Even professional assassins carried the scent of death and blood with them all the time. But this man had… _nothing_. This man could put out his killing intent to clean slate, one of the rarest ability even among the best of the best. An exceptional skill.

The man played a somewhat stoic, laid back, to the point of easy-going role. He at one point had even believed the man was just a traveling companion to the boy.

Then the thief realized in the time of his dying, of how this chilled-out and laid back man he thought to be, had made him suffer beyond any ever done upon him.

"You're  _no_  bodyguard, but a true killer."

Said killer's lips curved upward. "At least you figured it out before you die." Kuroro got himself up from crouching to the level with the thief when heaving his almost last words. The thief could no longer stand nor run any faster with those legs of his anymore... "That's what you get for following  _him_  around."

Words bore into the thief as he managed to spit his last words: "There are a lot more like me! They'll come after  _that_ Kuruta and the eyes!"

"And they  _all_ will end up like you," Kuroro returned, his voice from detached to frigid.

Hitching his last difficult breath, the thief died without the knowledge that his biggest mistake in life was his one wrong move in provoking the feared Genei Ryodan leader.

Drawing one of his ability out from the skill book, he used it to get rid of the body…and its ripped pieces. His questions were answered. Yes, a leak of information via the internet - the only thing that could go faster than him hunting down people _. How he began to despise information highway now._

This particular thief wanted the eyes in order to pass the test to get into the circle of mafia. His job description was to get the Kuruta eyes. He himself had no interest in the eyes and in killing if not necessary.

"Many more, huh?" As long as there was one Mafia or a body collector left on earth... no. Even a non-mafia -  _Kuroro himself was no Mafia after all_ \- there was going to be someone targeting Kurapika.

Kuroro Lucifer had never been the one who wanted to rule the world. He didn't mind the body collector. As for Mafia, they weren't on best of terms but he could co-exist with them. However, he could never allow anyone to come near what was his and his alone.

His mind already ran with plan of how to eliminate them all, if that was the last thing he did. No matter how many they were out there, he could track from one person to another, and go to the root of the problem. But the question was how was he going to do that, if he had to keep Kurapika close to him at the same time? If the boy knew, which would most likely happen, it was going to be a lot more complicated.

Back to his current situation, it had been nine minutes. Kuroro meandered back to retrieve the Kuruta eyes where he had placed them safely earlier, next to the tree trunks not far from him. He had better go to Kurapika before the boy found him among this torturing ground where the scent of blood and death lingered.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

After returning to the trail, Kurapika had a distinct idea of where to go, connecting the dots and trails. His connection to the forest, especially this kind of quiet one was in his blood, had a part in helping. The walk along the stream of river, where the wind blew would lead him to the place where he was supposed to be.

Forests always calmed his nerves. The smell of the grass, the earth, bed of flowers and streams of river,  _then_ …blood. His senses kicked in with alarm. Somehow, he knew where that scent was coming from, and he had to follow it.

As he had anticipated, he came across Kuroro who was walking along the same stream of river from the opposite direction. Upon seeing him, the man gave a bit of a smile. In his hands, he was carrying back the eyes that were stolen earlier.

Kuroro held out the cylindrical container as the boy rushed in. The youth's face filled with relief, his eyes locked with the Kuruta eyes that he didn't even spare a glance to Kuroro. Yet when he reached to take hold of the eyes from the man, he uttered with a faint smile. "Thank you."

The man nodded in acknowledgement with a faint smile. One look into those jet black eyes, he knew his sense of relief was going to be short-lived. The man already saw what was coming from him, Kurapika asked nevertheless, "Did you-?"

A firm nod confirmed Kurapika's suspicion.

A stunned look registered on the boy's face. There was no doubt about that. Kuroro carried a faint, fresh scent of blood and death with him.  _'Why had he hoped so?'_ Wasn't that the reason he worried in the first place when he couldn't catch up with them? Then another realization dawned on. "You planned to draw him out, did you?'

Another nod.

Kurapika went silent, head hung low, with blond bangs obscuring his eyes.

Anticipation filled Kuroro. At any moment now, the boy was going to flip it on him, lecture him at best, or curse and threaten to kill him at worst.

But none of that came.

Silence went on too long that Kuroro had to break it with a  _'hey'_ to the boy. With the tips of his fingers, he lifted the boy's chin up to face him. He had no intention of provoking the boy, nevertheless his question was blunt. "What's wrong? Shouldn't you be snapping at me by now?"

_No._

Once the boy's eyes were visible to him, he was taken aback not by the surface of confliction, but the indication of the saddest look he'd ever seen on Kurapika's face. The boy's eyes turned a bit of reddish-orange, not all the way red.

' _Interesting.'_ …yes, but this wasn't the time.

"Are you…" Kuroro faltered, but not for too long, "-not going to yell at me?"  _What else could he say?_  The boy was just…sad. This was beyond him.

Shaking his head, Kurapika pursed his lips. With the inner turmoil, he too, didn't know what to say. He was angry as he should have been whenever the Spider killed someone; made it even worse that this kill was to get the eyes back for him. Then again, by now Kurapika knew all too well why Kuroro did what he did. Just like what he had done with that Makiya woman and those Mafia back at Dolinku Mansion.

Unlike the Spider no. 11, Ubogin who killed for fun or without feelings, Kuroro killed with purpose and intention,  _now more than ever_. Kurapika knew exactly what kind of those purposes and intention were.

_He'd been down that road and he was the same._

His blood boiled whenever he was reminded of how his people had been hurt. There was nothing in the world that he’d want than the suffering of person responsible.

It made no difference if that poor bastard thief only wanted to steal the eyes from him. Kuroro hadn't killed to drill that  _'kill or be killed'_  philosophy into him, nor was he doing it just to tick him off. He had killed  _for_ Kurapika.

It made him sick to the core but he sort of knew where this was coming from.

"Hey, you need not feel bad about it. I did it on my own accord," Kuroro stated, after taking a while to predict what was going through the boy's mind.

That just worsened it. This morning Kuroro Lucifer was just an ordinary guy. One who was civilized with people, frisky, to the point of charismatic, and most of all…human. Now he was the Spider again.

_Were those all an act to trick their pursuer?_

"Kurapika!"

A pale hand clapped in front of his eyes. He blinked at it.

"Focus, boy. You're drowning yourself somewhere inside of your head again. That's not helping any of us." Kuroro's expression took on a frown, his tone touched with concern.

He might have used to hate it a lot more than this…to admit that Kuroro was right. He had to focus; sort things out and find a way. He nodded to the man, his eyes going back to their normal state.

"We had enough for today. We'll look into the other one tomorrow," said Kuroro as he began to saunter, leading the way back.

Kurapika again knew it. Kuroro was not anywhere near exhausted. It was him…who was about to have an emotional circuit overflow. Again. As his feet sauntered after the man, his eyes dropped from the man to the eyes in his hold and back to the man again.

' _This isn't going to work,'_ he thought.  _How many more people are going to die if Kuroro helps him find the eyes?_ As far as Kurapika concerned, the answer was  _'a lot.'_

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

The rest of the day and night followed, with Kurapika spent the time sitting in one corner of the room gazing at the Kuruta eyes.

In the other room, Kuroro was trying to sleep. _Trying_. Sleep always came easy to him.  _Why didn't it this time?_ After a few tossing and turning –something he rarely did—it occurred to him.  _Hell no, he did not just enter a period of change in his life._

As per normal, he'd eliminate any cause that brought on such unease upon him.  _'Not this time though,'_ he thought, staring into the dark with the back of his hand on his forehead. He had thought Kurapika would be the only one having to face the hardship in this exclusive relationship (according to Hisoka) alone. But no - Kuroro was right there with him.

_How justice was served…_

' _There are lots who know! They'll come after that Kuruta!'_

As long as he breathed, he knew they'd always be someone who went after the Spiders. He was fine with that. He'd always been able to take the death of his comrades into his stride and moved on. But he didn't think he could do it with this  _one._

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

PS. Tried some drawing for this fic :P

with Leorio's parallel:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was Kuroro OOC? If you think so, please let me know how. I tried to keep him in character as much as I could, but I'm not too sure, even with these reasons.
> 
> Talk about Kuroro's lost and his forgetting the map, I got the idea from Drama CD. Yes, in DCD that I'd consider it cannon, he got lost and forget the map, LOL.
> 
> 'Kuroro chasing after a butterfly.' XD, I got that from my beta-reader (thanks again :D), she meant to give me an example of OOC-ness but when I was writing this fic, that line just popped back up and I thought the pun would fit into the fic. Many Kurapika's fans depict him as butterfly…you get the picture ^^?


	3. Treaty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroro made a deal with Kurapika.

 

When morning arrived, both of them faced each other in the hallway with the similar countenance of extra bags under their eyes.

"Haven't you slept?" Kuroro asked in irritated tone, pinching between his eyebrows.  _Hadn't he told the boy to get enough rest?_

"I've dozed off for a few hours," the boy responded, looking sideways, then back at the man. "You're not better than me."

True, Kuroro  _couldn't_ sleep at all.

"I…want to talk about that thief yesterday," Kurapika started, firm.

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do," Kurapika scowled, taking one step closer to him. "Look, this is about me. I have to know."

One determined look was all it took for Kuroro to concede. As much as he thought Kurapika was better off not knowing and he’d wanted the boy to accept it that what he had done was on his own accord, he should have known that Kurapika was not going to change any more than he did.

They went to the foyer and sat themselves on the opposite couches. Kuroro recounted the event of him with that thief, leaving the details of his interrogation out. Kurapika had been listening attentively, quietly, nodding every now and then, and accepting everything.

Once Kuroro was done, he allowed silence to hang as long as Kurapika needed it to contemplate things over. Up until the boy clasped his hand and looked up at Kuroro after having his eyes cast low and deep in thought long enough.

"So now, I've probably being targeted by the Mafia, body collectors, or whoever that wants the Kuruta eyes, aren't I?" Kurapika reflected as he leaned his back against the cushion.

Said target's first gesture after all his disclosure had Kuroro surprised. "You don't look worried."

"Should I be? It's not far beyond expectation. Besides…" Kurapika settled for a searing glare. "I'm not  _that_ defenseless."

After all, they both knew that the Kuruta Clan was no stranger to violence. The Spiders were not the first ones to attack them for the eyes. They were simply the first to bring the whole clan down.

"Have you no fear?" Kuroro asked out of plain curiosity.

"That coming from a man who lives happily with death by his side every single day?" returned Kurapika with a slight frown on his face. When the man only nodded and beckoned him to elaborate, he closed his eyes in detached manner. "I don't fear death."

A small smile of sheer amusement of the boy's recklessness formed on Kuroro's lips, but disappeared as _one_ significant matter was dawned on him.

"You don't, but I-" he paused, his words couldn't catch up with his own thoughts and feelings, if there were any, now.  _But he what?_

Kurapika's frown deepened at that unfinished remark but he sort of knew where it was going. Finding it hard to wrap his head around it, he rose from the cushion and declared, "Anyhow, my point is… I can protect myself, like I've been doing all my life. So don't go killing anyone that is after me. Given that I'm the one they're after, I'll be the judge of what to do with them. This I  _ask_ of you, Kuroro. If you can't do the not-killing part then I  _don't_  need your help in finding the eyes." Kurapika came to a halt. He hadn't quite finished but the fleeting stunned look on Kuroro's face had him stumble over his words.  _Had the man not thought about this? Had he expected Kurapika to rely on him that much in retrieving the eyes and everything had to go his own way? NO._

Upon seeing Kurapika's face resolved, Kuroro went into a brief silence for contemplation. This wasn't what he had expected nor what he had planned. But…for the first time in life, he came to realization that this had to be mutual. This was no Spider head, arms and legs.

This was just Kurapika and him.

He rose from the cushion to level his gaze with the boy. "Okay, let's make a deal then. I'll obey your wish as long as you obey mine."

"And that is?" Kurapika raised, already skeptical.

"Two conditions. One: I'll have Coltopi make a replica of you. You'll fake your death to the Mafia public, with your eyes not turned scarlet. As to when and where I'll come up with that plan later," Kuroro said without explaining further, knowing the boy should have gotten an idea.

Giving only a few seconds of thoughts, Kurapika nodded easily to that. "Okay." He only needed to notify Leorio, Killua, Gon, and Senritsu beforehand to save their freaking out. This death faking would benefit him in more ways than one.  _That wasn't too bad coming from Kuroro_ , then he asked, "And the second condition?"

" _If_ there is a threat to your life lurking near you, and you don't take care of it... I  _will._ "

His heart sank. He knew what Kuroro's ' _take care of it'_ implied.  _This one was more like Kuroro_. But no, this one condition wouldn't help him at all. He had to counter, "You still make it sound like I need protection from you."

The look on Kuroro's face was nothing but defiant.  _Really, Kuroro Lucifer could be so stubborn._  Then again, he wasn't the only one. To avoid more blood and death, he had to pull this out.

Letting a mock smile creep to his expression, Kurapika sneered, "Look, I was the one who brought you down  _once_. Has anyone ever achieved that before? No. Tell me you're not underestimating me because that would put you further down under my level."

Kurapika's words and how he had said them it that arrogant tone had Kuroro thrilled. It wasn't everyday the boy would show that side of him. It was one thing Kuroro was still unable to draw it out on his intention. Still, if he had to be more honest than this to get the boy to at least accept his deal…

"I know what you're trying to do, boy, putting my pride at stake. It  _won't_ work." Kuroro's tone changed to match with the boy's arrogant one. "Your strength and intellect are above all Mafias and most professional assassins combined, I might add. But there's a huge difference between being good enough to defend yourself and the intent to kill. People that are after you will  _kill_ you without so much as batting an eye. Your defending yourself will be nowhere near enough.  _That_  would be your downfall. It happened once right in this city where you weren't fighting as if you want to kill me. You know the consequence."

_Right back at him._

The boy's face colored out of anger and possibly shame. Did they have to result this into a fight? Kurapika really didn't want one. Why couldn't the man just comply? Along the feeling of anger came the feeling of… _what?_ He couldn't put it into words. The fact that Kuroro wouldn't back down on this and would go to that extent to…keep him safe? That sure was…unnerving, awkward, and in a strangest way…reassuring.

_No…that last thought must have been the product of his disarray from lack of sleep!_

Noticing the boy's rising hysteria underlying with anger, Kuroro had to take this the other way. "You know if you died, I die too. It's just a precaution." Upon that, he received a look from Kurapika that made it look like this statement was the most ridiculous and had been long overdue…which is true. How it had become an excuse as well.

"As if you care that much about your life," Kurapika scoffed with eyes narrowed.

Given it a thought, Kuroro gave a slow nod. "Believe it or not, I  _do_ now. I didn't go through all those trouble to bring you back with  _nothing_." His jet black eyes zeroed in on the boy's.

He knew he  _had_  something to lose now.

When the implication sank in, Kurapika felt another wave of heat rise up on this cheek. He angled his head to the ground; let his bangs do the job in hiding his face.  _Why did Kuroro's words have to have this kind of effect on him?_

"I just want you alive and well," Kuroro said again. He…who barely felt for anything, hated this…hated the sneaky suspicion that he might lose the boy again at anytime now. He didn't want to feel what he felt when he returned home and met with nothing but Kurapika's blood on the wall.

Slowly, Kurapika looked up at him. The sincerity in the man's words rendered his comeback mute. He had to weigh Kuroro's condition.  _What was Kuroro's standard in measuring whatever threat was edging near him?_  With a guess at this point, Kuroro would have even reacted to the slightest false alarm.

It brought that same feeling he had back at Dolinku Mansion when Kuroro came for him.

Kuroro studied the boy having gone silent, again. Anticipation crept up on him,  _was he going to get mad or… -_ he least expected but couldn't rule it out _\- sad?_ When Kurapika slowly looked back up at him, Kuroro was let down by his anticipation. Kurapika was giving him that look again, the one he had back in that mansion.

' _Don't kill anymore,'_ the boy had said to him, almost pleading. And he ended up breaking that request.

 _This_ was going to be one of the most difficult achievements in his life indeed. There was nothing that could stop him from killing…those who are after Kurapika. Not even Kurapika and that look on his face.

He who had always been devoid of personal feelings, now took it  _personally_ when it came to Kurapika.

Then again, he was aware of the distance he'd created between him and Kurapika if he carried on killing.

"I'll try," Kuroro said at last.  _Yes, try. He could try and fail on that part, couldn't he?_

"Try harder than the last time then."

_Or not?_

Eyeing the boy, Kuroro knew there was no sarcasm in that, Kurapika just meant what he said…his green eyes filled with a hint of doubt and underlying fear of this assurance being broken. Kuroro had to concede  _for now._ He gave the boy a nod to which the other seemed a little relieved.

 _Problematic…_ than anything else he had ever encountered in life, even more than dealing with the Zoldycks. But he wasn't going to back down on this nevertheless.

How did Kurapika find this flaw in him? No… It was Kurapika who had become _his_  weakness.

It came out as a stunning shock to Kuroro Lucifer. Yet in the light of it, he was  _amused_ of how Kurapika affected him this much, and continued to do so. Despite the worry it brought, it still kept him somewhat…entertained.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

To Kurapika's biggest relief, there was no bloodbath whatsoever in regaining the second pair of Kuruta eyes.

Kuroro had led him to the small underground world in the west side of the city. Right near where Kurapika had been loitering about when he first came to this town. It was unnerving for him to see such even a small peaceful city have an underground museum. Yet its dark side paled in comparison with York Shin's Mafia auction. They were merely people interested in rare items, including body parts nevertheless. People just came to see things and left, nothing heinous.

Fortunately, all the museum people were just ordinary people, no nen-user involved. It was easy for the two to slip in and just grab the eyes and go, leaving the trouble of lost object in its wake.

"You're frowning," Kuroro commented upon the look on Kurapika's face as they sped away from the scene.

The boy's eyes casted down briefly to the clothed cylindrical shaped container in his hold, before looking back to Kuroro. "I didn't expect it to be this…simple."

"I can tell you honestly that these first two pairs of eyes would be the easiest to retrieve. But rest assured, the rest of them are not going to be anywhere near easy." Kuroro slanted a look to the boy at his side and wasn't surprised that the boy was unfazed.

"You've mentioned it's impossible to gain all of them, is it true?" Kurapika asked while both of them came to a halt. They were far enough from the crime scene.

Kuroro had to think back, that had been a while. He thought it was impossible before, when their relationship hadn't reached this point. Now he had to reassess. "Not if we work together."

Kurapika let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Nothing could weaken his resolve in bringing all of the eyes back to his clan. But now that he was holding the third pair of eyes -the other two already in a safe place-, it started to sink in that all of the eyes he had gotten back were led by Kuroro's lead.

As hard as it was to swallow, he allowed himself to wonder only for a moment, if he would ever regain them in this lifetime if not for the man who stole them in the first place.

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Three more minutes to train departure."

Kurapika let out a grunt at the man's note.  _He need not stress that! Who was at fault for waking up so late, leaving them with less than an hour to rush downtown to catch a train that leaves only once a month? Who was the one who insisted they traveled by train, when there was an airport that was more flexible in terms of availability and travel duration._

Being a slow, laid back and quiet city, there were no fast transportation that was going to get them to the train station in time, which left them with one option… Run for it.

They raced through, surpassing people and vehicles. Kurapika, trying his best to ignore the attention that they were drawing. One glance at the man and his brow twitched.

Indeed, Kuroro seemed to be…having fun. This running was nothing to him.

"This reminds me of the time you and that kid sped after the Spiders," the man trailed off.

' _Exactly,'_ was Kurapika's thought. He rolled his eyes at their shared thoughts.

They neared the train station at the sound of train in a platform, hissing and sighing and threatening to leave any minute without them.

"9 more seconds," Kuroro mumbled.

"Eh!?" Just when Kurapika thought they were not going to make it even if they could save themselves the hassle of getting tickets, his hand was snatched and he had to go faster as the man pulled him along, almost throwing him off his feet.  _'Ah! Too fast!'_

The next thing Kurapika knew was a gust of wind when the train's door shut inches from his feet. An announcement sounded through the speaker and announced the train's destination. Feeling his feet on the solid ground of the train, he sighed while brushing away his sweat. Glancing at the man next to him, he'd no wonder why Kuroro hadn't broken any at all.

"Made it," Kuroro said between a chuckle.

"What's so funny?" That being said, Kurapika heard light laughters around him. Eyes looking about, he took in the sight of other passengers, either in group or pairs had a laugh of relief and out of breath, pretty much in the same state as Kuroro and he had probably ran together to catch the train in similar manner. Fashionably late. Something about this railway atmosphere made Kurapika feel brighter. Then he noticed Kuroro's hand was still on his.

"Let's go to the last carriage, this one's too packed," Kuroro said as he pulled the boy along a bogy. One after another until they reached the last one where only a few passengers were on board.

"You can let go of my hand now," Kurapika said, feeling he got that out perhaps a little too late.

"All right?" the man responded airily as he let go. Once the boy sat himself down, Kuroro seated himself next to him. He smirked at the surprised look on the boy. "Look at the seating layout and don't complain, boy."

This train, unlike the one they took to pass Baal Capitol which had seats parallel along the carriage, facing each other, this one was 2-2 seats. But it still didn't mean they couldn't sit separately given that there were plenty of empty seats around.

"I wasn't going to complain," the blond returned in a mumble.

A smile pulled at Kuroro's lips. He knew, why else would Kurapika seat himself in the space next to the window?

"You look weary; I'm guessing you didn't sleep well last night. Take the chance to get some now," Kuroro suggested. 

The boy nodded to acknowledge it as he kept his eyes glued to the window.

Once the bell rang, the locomotive shifted and swerved off in the foggy morning, Kuroro and Kurapika embarked on another journey.

tbc...

XXX

XXX

I hope all my days Will be lit by your face  
I hope all the years Will hold tight our promises

I don't wanna be old and sleep alone  
An empty house is not a home  
I don't wanna be old and feel afraid

And if I need anything at all

I need a place That's hidden in the deep  
Where lonely angels sing you to your sleep  
Though all the world is broken

I need a place Where I can make my bed  
A lover's lap where I can lay my head  
Cos now the room is spinning  
The day's beginning

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kuroro is becoming a worrywart! XD How's that. He might have what he wants at last but I'm not gonna make it easy for him *evil laughs*
> 
> Song is 'Atlantic' by Keane. I didn't intend to make this a songfic. But I got a whole lot of inspiration for a theme in this story because of this song since when I first started this. It gives a calm feeling, which is what I want for Kurapika after all he's been through.


	4. Train Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> their conversation on the train...

 

 

The rhythm of the train permeated the peaceful atmosphere. For an hour, they sat in silence. Sitting with arms folding across his chest, Kuroro dozed off to sleep from time to time despite having sufficiently slept the night before. He was able to maintain his upright posture while asleep, until the train took a lazy swing to the right had his head fell sideways to Kurapika’s shoulder.

 

The blond stiffened and wondered if the man was doing it on purpose. He recalled their first night spent in the same room. He was able to sleep in an upright posture during that time, it was impossible that Kuroro couldn’t do the same now. But one glance at the man’s sleeping face and his previous nerves were dismissed. He had allowed the man to sleep in his lap all night long, why not on his shoulder in the daylight too then?

 

He couldn’t help a sigh and rolling his eyes though. _‘This from a man who told me to go to sleep?’_ Kurapika himself was a bit tired from the lack of sleep, but he found himself thrown into a reverie of memories. He just kept his eyes on the scenery that rolled by.

 

The railway traversed just about every conceivable terrain. At 9AM, light began peeking through the clouds, blazing through the rain’s window and illuminated the interior of the railroad car. The half-light made Kuroro stir. The raven-haired man lifted his head from the crook of Kurapika’s neck and brushed the sleepiness from his eyes. He studied the boy and couldn’t help containing his smile at how the blond was _trying_ to remain neutral to this. For the boy’s sake, Kuroro said nothing and straightened himself while Kurapika gave him a brief look before returning to the world outside the window. 

 

The soft light illuminated Kurapika’s pale skin. Kuroro saw Kurapika as a remarkable boy, but if it were for his physical appearances alone, he would have seen this since back on their first encounter at York Shin. No, there was more to him than just the nice skin, ocean-green eyes, and blond hair. Kuroro had a closed observation all this time. Perhaps it was due to the hurt and sorrow deep inside, along with the resentment towards Kuroro himself, that fueled a single determination. Kuroro found it mesmerizing.

 

Kurapika had lived through one of the most painful experiences in life that could _(and should)_ have killed him. He fought and endured with an iron will; he kept his ground and stood up. That was the beauty of him, according to Kuroro, now.  


He was certain Kurapika didn’t ask to be born with the eyes deemed one of the most beautiful on earth - the very reason that left him the last living Kuruta at the tender age of thirteen. Then again, he was also positive that Kurapika wasn’t the type to wish to be born otherwise if vengeance was _his_ to carry out.

 

It had Kuroro’s mind reeling since he caught on _something_ to do with the fact Kurapika had made it clear that he had no fear against death.

 

“Say, supposedly you achieved your goals, having _Genei Ryodan_ bitten the dust and reclaimed all of your clan’s eyes. What are you going to do next?”

 

The boy turned an annoyed glare at him. He’d made a mistake of looking at the man’s face, it rendered him unable to tell the man off. He’d gotten used to the Spider head’s stoic expression before, so why did it have to change now?

 

Why did Kuroro have to curtain that curious look with underlying concern. It was unnerving, but he couldn’t deny that he had an answer to that.

 

Kuroro Lucifer never made pointless conversations; that much he had accepted once he came to terms with him. This had to be answered. He swallowed the lump in his throat and responded, “I…haven’t thought about that.”

 

“Hmm, a lie,” Kuroro shot right back, his looks stern.

 

Glare intensifying, Kurapika challenged with certainty that the man would never catch on that one deepest thought of his. “What do you think I’d do then?”

 

Jet black eyes regarded the boy for seconds before they shifted to the world outside the window. “Kurutas live in a small world, and never ever communicated with the outsiders. His clan is his whole world.” He noted the boy’s stiffening posture; Kurapika must have realized where this was going. Yes, Kuroro _knew_ the answer and he wasn’t going to let it slide. “You had considered about following your clan once everything is done for.”

 

There, Kurapika went mute.

 

_How could he ever know of the thought that Kurapika at times dare not think about?_

 

“Hit the nail, didn’t I?” Kuroro ventured with a faint smile, his eyes returning to the boy.

 

“I…” His words stumbled, then Kurapika thought there was no use hiding this.  As much as he (still) hated to admit, this man either read people easily or just knew him well. He sighed at last before admitting, “That thought might have crossed my mind at times. But it never did again after I met Gon, Leorio, and Killua.”

 

“No doubt about that. No other kind of death leaves friends with lifelong distress and guilt. Your friends will be the victim of those feelings and you would never want that,” Kuroro trailed off.

 

Kuroro’s words had Kurapika thinking again if the man had a first-hand experience on this. He wasn’t sure if the death of Uvogin and Pakunoda would count; had the man felt remorse, he sure hid it well. There were so many things he didn’t know about Kuroro. Yet, Kuroro spoke as if he _understood_ all those humane things countless of times. But then again, Kuroro read countless books, which served as another means of knowledge about the world and humans in general.

 

“You need not say it. I’ve already abandoned that thought,” Kurapika said, looking sideways.

 

“Like I’m going to let that happen even if you still do.” _You don’t get to die on me._

 

With how Kuroro had said that, Kurapika’s eyes returned to Kuroro against his will. He couldn’t hold the jet black eyes tensed with resolve for too long. He was glad he held back his comment, _‘Says a man who had no intentio_ _n for leaving any Kuruta survivor alive.’_ But he already had a vague idea how Kuroro would respond to that. Even the thought of it brought an awkward air and it had to weigh down on him alone since Kuroro seemed not affected by it. _‘So unfair.’_

 

Thankfully, Kuroro didn’t push the subject further, instead he beckoned Kurapika to the world outside the window. “Look, Kurapika.”

 

Doing as told, Kurapika turned his attention towards the window and saw the world outside.

 

They came across the vast landform of lush, green wilderness. The landscape was lined with imposing alpine and lofty mountains of vivid colors. It was nature at its best.

Kurapika looked on in slight awe. A part of him was reminded of Rukuso Forest.

 

“This is why I chose to travel by train; you get to see the world,” Kuroro said with an air of appreciation.

 

“That coming from a man who slept all the way here?” Kurapika couldn’t help taunting.

 

A chuckle responded.

 

“I’ve been through this path time and again, here and now is the best scenery in terms of landscape. I just thought you might have not seen it yet. Given that you seem to never lay back and relax, you probably travel by airship. It’s faster, the sky and clouds are nice and all, but personally I find seeing landscapes on the ground more enjoyable. Plus, I’m beginning to enjoy having a nap _on_ you.”

 

Kurapika’s eyes startled then they narrowed down into a glare.

 

_Well, right back at him. How could Kuroro know so much about him, again?_

“Don’t look so worried, you know me better than anyone else too. We sure have intimate knowledge of each other, don’t we?” Kuroro cocked his head sideways, looking almost innocent at what he’d just said. Almost. _And no, the heat Kurapika felt on his face must be of anger, nothing else!_

 

It took Kurapika a while to narrow his eyes while retorting, “We’re just good at reading people, is all.”

 

“Hmm? But no one has ever read me better than you do. Likewise-”

 

“Cut it out already,” Kurapika hissed.

 

Raising a hand in mock surrender, Kuroro backed down. “Relax, kid. We’re just having a normal conversation here.”

 

True, this kind of conversation was annoying and affecting Kurapika way too much but it was definitely ways better than other ones involving death.

 

“When it comes to traveling, I’ve always been alone…and it’s all good.” He looked at the boy who raised an eyebrow and added, “Now I’ve learned a journey’s better when shared.”

 

Despite how his mind raced with how Kuroro had said it, Kurapika’s features softened. For the second time, Kuroro had sounded like Senritsu with those words that seemed to warm him up. And it was…true, he guessed. This train journey was less tensed than the last one they had in Baal. To his surprise, Kurapika found himself nodding to the man.

 

Satisfied, Kuroro said no more. They sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a while. The lights in the train dimmed signifying they were entering a tunnel. When they came out on the other side, the landscape outside the window changed to that of a dull terrain, Kurapika’s eyelids became heavy.

 

“Sleep. I know you haven’t had any good rest for the whole time you’ve been with the _Ryodan_. Now you know I’m not going to kill any more than you would with me. Take a good nap; you need it.”

 

Nodding again, Kurapika just did as told. The rhythm of the train already lulled him half way there, the backlog of sleep deprivation took its toll.

 

As the train stopped and moved forward again from station to station, some commuters departed and others boarded the train. Most didn’t pay attention, but some caught the sight of a young man and a boy sleeping, heads resting against each other’s.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

An hour before they reached Kuroro’s designated place, Kuroro had come to. He woke with the warm sensation on his neck. Glancing sideways a little, it was confirmed that the blond head was indeed on his shoulder. Kurapika was completely fast asleep. For the first time in months, Kurapika had _actually_ slept in his presence.

 

The sight put a smile up on Kuroro’s face. The boy was beginning to trust him. Back then, he hadn’t really been paying attention to how the sense of insecurity was affecting the boy’s sleeping habit, just as long as he lived. Now that he did…he would.

 

The rest of the journey for Kuroro was spent reading the book while taking care as to not disturb the boy’s slumber. By 3PM, the train came to its final stop at last. With the movement of halting the train, Kuroro felt the light weight on his shoulder lift as the boy was rousing. He closed the book and turned his attention to the waking boy. He was not going to miss the look on the blond’s face when he realized their current predicament.

 

As expected, Kurapika’s sleepy eyes widened at the sight of the shoulder he had been snoozing on, followed by reflexively looked up to its owner. He met a smirking face of Kuroro.

 

His face bloomed in different shades of red, with Kurapika backing off a bit too violently that his head hit the window. He remembered going to sleep leaning against the window, then why!?

 

He stammered out, “I…I’m…sorry.”

 

Chuckling at the boy’s panic, Kuroro responded, “Why apologize? You allowed me to do the same. We just took turns.”

 

The boy’s green eyes looked anywhere but at the man. Kuroro sleeping on him was one thing, the other way around was another thing.

 

Feeling the need to put some space before the boy exploded out of embarrassment, Kuroro got himself up and declared, “We’re here.”

 

Kurapika looked outside the window. The blue sign read “Aircraft Station,” yet he couldn’t see beyond the station itself.

 

“Where’s here?”

 

“Another place that might hold a clue of Kuruta eyes.”

  


	5. Down that Path

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurapika's first time...

_Special thanks to Yumii-san and Hanareader for beta-reading._

**Chapter 5 Down that Path**

"I won't give you the Kuruta eyes even if my life is on the line!"

The businessman's tenacity was made clear as he spat his declaration through a mouthful of blood, regarding his hiding place of the Kuruta eyes in his possession. Despite being stripped of his power and authority, down to being the last man in the wealthy premise belonging to him, he seemed too proud and too adamant for his own good.

"No amount of money will ever be worth trading for the eyes; nothing can amount to it! It's been with me for years - I own it!" The middle-aged man claimed.

Kurapika clenched his fist, barely restraining himself from one more punch, kick or any sort of assault. He hurt the man bad enough; the other was a crumpled heap on the floor beaten and bruised. Roughening up further could potentially result in his death. It was bad enough that he had to resort to physical means after the several failed negotiation attempts. Although, it had been the man himself instigating Kurapika to resort to violent means since the beginning.

_These sorts of people never know how to choose their words carefully when it came to matters regarding his clan's eyes._

He breathed, trying his damnedest to calm down and trying his best  _not_ to spare a glance at Kuroro who idly stood by the window of the large study room they were in. He had asked the man to stand back after all. When it came to people, he'd like to work things out on his own terms (especially after knowing what Kuroro did to the previous thief). He'd always been good at it.

Not this time, it seemed.

"He has a family," Kuroro interjected.

Words like that from Kuroro momentarily put Kurapika's mind off of his issue with the businessman. One moment, a memory of his burning village came back to him, only to have him squash that thought down. He wouldn't found this businessman, if it weren't for Kuroro. Then again, he wouldn't have been in this position if it weren't for Kuroro, either. Shaking his head, he cast that thought aside, trying to focus on things at hand first.

It was a reminder; Kurapika was aware of it. They gathered enough information about the man before they made their move. But Kurapika previously believed he need not invest too much into the thought of involving the rest of family given that they had nothing to do with collecting body parts, as far as he was concerned. Then again if the sheer amount of money and the fear of death couldn't change the businessman's mind, what else could?

Family…?

The thought alone was most sickening to Kurapika. His heart pounded in his chest and his breath faltered at his own thought. But he'd be lying if he denied that the thought hadn't come across his mind.

"They're mine."

To make matter worse, the businessman just had to say that out loud.

He pledged to his family to bring down Genei Ryodan, the root of this evil, but the people who purchased off the Kuruta eyes from Black Market were no different. To him, they were merely another breed of monsters.

Searching the clock in the room, his gaze met with Kuroro's bored ones briefly before he noticed it was almost 7pm.

Shutting his eyes in frustration, he bent down to the man's slouched form and kept his voice stern, "What time is your family coming back?"

He wasn't looking for an answer; he already had that information. It was meant to be a threat. The shock on the man's face gave him a tad satisfaction and mostly…relief. He'd wish the threat alone would work.

How so wrong he was going to be…

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Really? Did he really have to take it up another level by demonstrating it?_

Words of threat alone were insufficient to convince the man. By the time 7.15 pm rolled around, the businessman's wife and their daughter had arrived home. They were coming straight to the study room, most likely to greet the man Kurapika was interrogating.

That moment, Kurapika decided against the thought of leaving to come back another day. He recited in his mind what he had told Kuroro prior to this when the Spider head reiterated that retrieving the rest of the eyes would no longer be a walk in the park.

_'I'm willing to do anything to get my family's eyes back to them. Anything._ '

Allowing Kuroro to be the one escorting them up to the room was only a tad bit unnerving. By this time, he knew Kuroro well enough to trust him with certain tasks. The Spider head had hurt no one in the premise so far; everyone he touched just fell unconscious. Ironically, this time it was Kurapika himself staining his hands with blood.

Gun in hand, Kurapika was ready. Once Kuroro made it back, he wasn't exactly surprised to see the man led the woman and the girl into the room with a smile. They too were smiling.

_Hmm, the charm of his alter-ego again_ , Kurapika guessed. How Kuroro converse with them on the way here wasn't of his concern; he waited to see the moment their eyes fell on the injured businessman and on the blond himself. The smiles disappeared instantly, replaced with shock and horror.

The woman rushed in on her own accord. Swallowing hard, Kurapika stopped her right before she reached the businessman with a gun pointing at her. The daughter was held back by Kuroro when he received a signal from Kurapika. Questions spilled from the lady's mouth as she raised her hand in a surrendering gesture, looking between him, her daughter and her husband in panic and terror.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt your daughter…" He told the shaking woman, that much he could give but once his eyes returned to the businessman, he added, "…unless I have to."

Kurapika had never hated himself more than this moment.

"Where are the eyes?" He questioned the businessman again.

The silence was disturbed by the hysteria the woman caused and the young girl's cry for her parents. Kurapika had a vague idea this would turn out feeling worse than the time interrogating Spider No. 11 before his last breath. Nothing compared to the reality of it. After all, this was his first taste of going down a path of posing a death threat and potentially acting upon it. Aside from Spiders that was. Then again, with the Spiders, it wasn't meant to be a threat.

"…okay…" The man breathed out at last.

Kurapika made sure not to let anyone heard another sigh of relief he'd been holding. He lowered the gun directed at the woman but remained cautious. He waited, sparing a glance to where Kuroro was, worried about the kid. She wasn't struggling as Kuroro kept whispering something to her. The man really knew how to handle just about anyone, he could tell. Kurapika was already expecting an answer with a location, so what he heard next from the man's mouth put his mind momentarily in blank state.

"…go ahead…kill us all. I won't give you the eyes."

If there was one thing Kurapika learnt there and then, it was the self-awareness of how  _naïve_ he had been. Particularly within the past few days, especially in front of Kuroro.

Speaking of Kuroro, Kurapika couldn't help his eyes straying to the man now.

' _I'll stand back if that's what you want. Unless you changed your mind, my help is always offered.'_

Upon that look, Kuroro walked in, ushering the whimpering child forward. The woman yelled something incoherent, to her husband, to Kurapika and to Kuroro. "How could you do this!? She's just ten!"

In a closer distance, the daughter made a run for her mother. Kuroro let her go upon a nod from Kurapika but Kurapika himself made sure to let them know he was still holding a gun at them.

As indifferent as ever, Kuroro stepped into the circle. He looked down at the man, "You care about the possession of the eyes more than your family?" When the man gave no answer, he asked again. "You're going to give them up just to keep the eyes?"

No answer, to all of them, was an equivalent to 'yes.'

_'What in the world-'_ Kurapika could no longer comprehend or make any sense of this lowlife in front of him.

"Just give them whatever they want! What worldly possession could be more important than our daughter's safety!?" The woman told him, holding to her daughter tight.

"NO! It's not just a worldly possession!" The business man managed to sit up, poised, having had enough time to recover. He turned his adamant look on Kurapika, "Not on your life."

Something in Kurapika snapped. His eyes turned red.

A firm hand gripped his shoulder, Kurapika looked up to find the jet black eyes, asking him in silence whether he wanted the rest to be taken care of. He kept his eyes on Kuroro, the wheels in his mind spinning. Then, he shook his head after five seconds.

"Take them outside. I'll take care of it." He couldn't even recognize his own voice behind that icy tone. Kuroro searched his gaze a few seconds before giving his shoulder a squeeze. He let go and turned to steer the protesting woman and sobbing girl out the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

In spite of the gun in his hand, Kuroro would have offered them some sort of handkerchief or wipes, if he had any. Sympathy for them was probably the last thing he had in him, but he figured it'd be Kurapika's gesture had he been in his position now. He agreed to act according to Kurapika's lead after all.

Kurapika roughening up the man had been a waste of time. Kuroro knew he fared a lot better in this department and maybe the business man would have relented by now. It was apparent to him that the blond held back…a lot. To Kuroro, it almost seemed like a child's play. But he was patient man, and on the other hand he'd like to see how the boy would go about it.

His gaze settled back to the close door.  _'And now that it comes down to this… his eyes turning red…'_ He couldn't help the small smile on his lips.  _'Too bad I don't get to witness it.'_

The fearful eyes were still transfixed on him as he noticed the two were plastered against the opposite wall. He could tell they wanted to run but were hesitant to do so.

"Please don't do this…" The woman begged again.

"I'm not going to hurt you if you stay where you are," Kuroro smiled the way he had when he first escorted them to the study room; innocent and welcoming. He couldn't imagine Kurapika's wrath if these two were to get hurt. He could tell it took a lot in the boy to entrust him with this task. He would not ruin it.

His smile must have backfired, for they tried putting distance between them with a few shaky steps.  _'Oh..'_ he was holding a gun, maybe he shouldn't be smiling like that.

He sighed, it was nothing short of boredom. Yet he was beginning to feel their resentment building up towards him. He didn't mind though, but when it came to the girl asking her mother what 'that guy would do to Daddy,' and all that, Kuroro had to explain on his own volition.

"Your father has something that belongs to my…comrade," Kuroro explained. "He only wants it  _back._ He has tried negotiating many times, all of which were turned down. _"_

It worked, the woman and the child just had ceased their weeping to think about it.

"Do you know where the Scarlet eyes are?" Kuroro directed his question to the woman. One look at her expression, and he was positive she had nothing to do with it, just as Kurapika confirmed. Then he added, "But now you do  _know_ your husband…" he shifted his gaze from the woman to the girl. "-your father would give you two up for that possession of his."

As their features scrunched in belated realization, Kuroro said no more. He knew his words would sink in sooner or later. He leaned back against the wall, next to the door. Not before long, the doorknob turned. Kuroro made an abrupt turn to look as the boy walked out, his face solemn and eyes back to dull green ones.

In his hold was the canister encasing the pair of Scarlet eyes.

Observing the boy, Kuroro saw a bit more amount of blood on the boy's hand. He was curious but the blond closed the door behind him. Kuroro paused when Kurapika grabbed the hem of his black long-sleeved shirt, not looking up at him and saying, "Let's just get out of here."

The boy did not do so, without regarding the woman and the girl with that indescribable apologetic look of his. "He'll live. I'm…I'm really sorry."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

They left the city right after. Having the authorities come after them was not part of the list of things to worry about; Kurapika made sure of it. He just wanted to leave.

Kurapika booked a whole private cabin on a train for himself, not wanting to mingle with the crowd or anyone for that matter. During this time, he just wanted to be alone. Although said 'alone' couldn't be without Kuroro himself. The boy could tune him out if he wanted to, like he had been doing a lot…in the past.

"Hey, wanna talk about it?" Kuroro offered, half concerned for that seemingly bottled-up distress, half curious to find out what Kurapika had done to that man to make him eventually give up the eyes. Although he already had a vague idea that there was nothing he hadn't done before... there wasn't even a scream.

The boy shook his head, and his eyes returned to staring at the floor. Kuroro followed his gaze, seeing the white shadows on the floor, shapes formed by the window frame, appearing and reappearing upon each light outside the train.

"Sometimes you can't choose the method you'd prefer to deal with people. Sometimes they make that call themselves. That businessman was one good example."

Kurapika looked up to him and regarded him for the longest time. He opened his mouth, then closed it.

"I'm not saying it to make you feel better. I'd just like you to see it the way it actually is, not the way that you're just over-blaming yourself again." From the startled look on the boy's face, he knew the boy was indeed, blaming himself, again. He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. "If anything, I think we did his family a favor."

"Excuse me?" The blond looked up, his eyes momentarily flickered red.

Unaffected by the potentially oncoming temper, Kuroro leaned forward from where he was seated. "That businessman was going to give them up. Do you think it's worth living the rest of their lives with someone like that without ever knowing about their true colors?"

The boy's eyes cast sideways, his brows furrowed deep. "Point taken."

"Hmm, too bad for him he didn't realize worldliness will bring him no good," Kuroro said with a straight face.

"That coming from a thief? Really, I could have laughed," Kurapika said with a bewildered look on this face.

Kuroro laughed instead and settled his gaze on the boy, "A thief who has realized by now that a worldly possession is nothing compared to some sort of… ties… with the living artifact."

The color to the boy's face brought some life back into him.

They let the moment past in silence, save for the sound of the moving train.

Kuroro smiled to himself. "And one more thing, Kurapika. I suggest you take care of your emotional baggage when it comes to intimidating people next time." He left the details unsaid. He witnessed the number of times the boy swallowed, the nervous look he tried to hide, and the shaky erratic breaths he attempted to control. The boy should know his own flaws best.

"I…I know," he snapped. "I'm working on it. I can't afford to lose my head everytime I retrieve the eyes."

"You weren't too bad back there, considering it was your first time. But you were just lucky this businessman was nothing much of an observant. The further you go, the tougher it will be… especially with some people. There'll be the times when you need to carry out other means than just threatening or paying them off alone. Deception is probably one more thing you'd need to work on.  _Not everyone will play fair_. If your objective is to retrieve every pair of eyes back, you'd better be ready for anything."

He could feel that rising frustration in the blond's features, but it didn't last long. Accepting that fact, Kurapika nodded, "I'm aware of that."

He was right after all. Sure the boy was a sharp individual but to Kuroro he lacked experience in dealing with the monsters wearing human skins. As far as he knew, Kurapika had only less than a year association with Mafia and the underworld. All his life, Kuroro had years of firsthand experience with almost every aspect in life, particularly the bad ones.

Still, he saw so much potential in Kurapika regarding this matter, after seeing for himself how the boy made it this far… even capable of dealing with Kuroro Lucifer himself.

The boy could certainly learn a lot from him.

With that thought, Kuroro met the boy's gaze. "Don't worry. I'm here for you."

An astonished look flitted across the boy's face. Kurapika responded, "That's what I'm worried about." His voice held uncertainty, but it was light, so did his expression as it morphed into a faint smile soon after.

Upon that, Kuroro laughed, lighthearted. Yet he was concerned of one thing. "Are you worrying that I'm a bad influence on you?"

"Yes…and no," Kurapika answered, shaking his head soon after at his own confusing answer.

Still, his response was understandable to Kuroro. "Think I'm manipulating you to become the likes of me?"

The boy gave him an observant look. "Are you?"

"No." Kuroro's comeback was instant. "Do you believe me?"

"…Yes." The boy's response was fast enough. The hint of doubt was there but it weighted much less than both of them anticipated.

The answer surprised him. Kuroro realized his grin must be big enough for the boy to avert his gaze, yet stealing a sideway glance back at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eventful weeks rolled by as Kurapika had been travelling with Kuroro in search of his clan's eyes.

They had had struggles from time to time, there was a blood shed here and there but Kurapika could see the effort Kuroro had put in, albeit unwillingly, to avoid killing people. Kurapika himself tried his best to meet Kuroro's terms, avoiding risk. In addition, he learned a lot from Kuroro of how to deal with people with the likes of him.

Both found the conditions difficult, yet they were willing to work together which led them to the retrieval of the fifth pair of Kuruta eyes in the city tucked between Attique and Melb.

After all was done, they booked another night train to Melb City, as requested by Kuroro's fellow Spiders to see their leader one more time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Kurapika came to, he found himself on Kuroro's shoulder, again.  _How could he let this happen twice anyway!? Where was that sense of awareness he had had so much before this?_  Lifting his head up, his lips was about to apologize. But a firm hand gestured his head to stay where it was earlier.

"If this is comfortable, then remain. Don't apologize, get it already that I don't mind," Kuroro said, his eyes still fixed on the book.

To his own surprise, Kurapika complied. True, he was comfortable and his head did want to stay on Kuroro's shoulder. Yet he couldn't help the feeling of being so weirded out and he needed a distraction from it. He started, "Hey, I want to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Back there at Ryuuseigai, you've mentioned that you trained yourself to be stoic. That's how you have lived your life and it's the only way you can…what? You didn't finish. What were you going to say?"

"That had been a while ago, hmm... I didn't expect you'd remember; you were drunk at that time," Kuroro said with an air of amusement.  _This boy really remembered every little thing that happened between them, didn't he?_

"I wasn't drunk," Kurapika retorted and drew the topic back on track, "So?"

"-survive, of course," Kuroro answered, feeling a whole lot different from back there about disclosing his thoughts to Kurapika. Upon the skeptic look on the boy's face, he closed the book and elaborated with a smile on his face, "Believe it or not, I was like you…once. I can even see myself in you at times." There, he got the boy's full attention as Kurapika had to lift his head to look him in the eye.

Kuroro was aware this could tick the boy off saying they were alike but took reassurance that the boy was simply looking for his honest answer. "I was filled with anger and thirst for revenge. All of which only led to a path of self-destruction…as I'm sure you understood best."

A glint of anger flashed across Kurapika's face, yet he held it back. With a nod, he beckoned for Kuroro to carry on. He would give it a try to understand.

"I reckon I could have died if I went on with life carrying the burden of anger. It would drive me insane. That was why I learned to detach myself from feelings…from some garbage of the past. And it worked, too well I'd even add." He kept his steady eyes on Kurapika.  _He'd just reveal the part of his past known to only a few of his Spiders._  But the boy had opened up to him, drunken state or not that time (despite the boy's retort a moment ago). This would be the right time for him to break his ambiguous habit, whether or not it was on purpose.

Seemed like the boy wasn't going to explode with this revelation. It brought a smile on his lips.  _Kurapika could tolerate him more nowadays._

Eyes cast down, Kurapika's face darkened slightly. He would have gotten angry but at the same time, the impression that Kuroro Lucifer use to have feelings after all made him feel otherwise _._ He had that thirst to avenge his people, just like him.

_Still, it was most perturbing. Them? Alike?_

Before his thoughts could get any darker, a strong hand gave a light push upon his head, and ruffling his hair. Kurapika let out a soft gasp and shot the man a glare but made no effort to swat that hand away.

"You  _are_ strong," Kuroro enunciated the words. "I wouldn't be able to do what you've done…or are doing, for that matter. Carrying that amount of anger and still retaining a sane mind."

_Such a two sided compliment, if it were any._

"I…wouldn't be able to do what you're doing either, about letting things go easily," Kurapika admitted, eyes still cast down. "My anger and the thirst for revenge are the only things that kept me going… living and surviving."

He wasn't one to be easily swayed by the other's opinions. But he knew he couldn't find it in himself to disregard Gon, Killua and Leorio's feelings, at least not entirely; even Senritsu and Bashou he thought highly of. For the past five years of his solitude, he came across many faces but none ever come close to his heart as these three did. Back there he believed he was fine on his own, his only goal being the two he promised his clan, and nothing else. When came the time he was with them, the thought of avenging alone even slipped his mind. Nevertheless he relapsed after they parted ways.

They didn't want him to get himself involve with the Spiders. To put it more precisely, they wanted him off of the self-destructive path of vengeance. But nothing could weaken his resolve, not even when he was sitting next to Kuroro, exchanging conversation as if there weren't mortal enemies. That was what he'd like to believe.

He met Kuroro's gaze with resolve, "We might have been on the same path in the past, but now we're just the complete opposites."

"True," Kuroro said with eyes closed after withdrawing his hand.  _Walk on same path before but yet still drawn to each other from the opposites end?_

How they had such conversation that weeks ago Kurapika would have unleashed his wrath by now.

It seemed like the boy had learned his lesson by a lot. He'd keeled over too many times for the past few weeks when he had to be among the Spiders day after day. Kuroro knew it wasn't the boy's weakness; other people would have burst to death placed in that kind of situation. Kurapika had been holding up for so long but there were times that his mind just had to shut down when his emotional circuit overloaded.

"You know, I hate to say this. But your advice about keeping calm in my livid state did help me at times," Kurapika had meant when he was provoked by the Nen-user who kidnapped him, Makiya. The woman had attempted to turn his eyes scarlet state without avail, but he gave no implication to Kuroro regarding it.

As Kuroro searched his face, Kurapika tried his best to say it in his most detached manner while he looked the man in the eyes. "But don't expect me to be like you. I could never master that indifferent state of mind like yours."

A smile graced Kuroro's lips as he drew his face near the boy. "I wouldn't dream of that. Because it wouldn't make you…  _you_."

As expected, the boy jerked back with an incredulous look on his face. To Kuroro, it was still fun every time he got this kind of response from him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time they arrived at Melb city to meet with the other Spiders as per their request, morning had arrived.

"Have you… thought about how you'd explain to your Spiders?" Kurapika asked as they stepped out of the train, breathing in the morning air. To this surprise, the man shook his head.

"I'll make it up as I go," there was no air of confidence in Kuroro's voice but his voice was as firm as ever; it was a little unlike him. The lingering doubt on Kurapika's face must have shown and Kuroro asked, "Are you worrying?"

"Of course. We…" His face scrunched, heavy with uncertainty despite how natural it was for them now to be walking side-by-side. "…don't even know what  _this_   _thing…_ between…us…is all about," Kurapika finished, having to force each word out of his throat.

Kuroro went silence. Of course, Kuroro was just as lost as him on this matter.  _Great._ His mind was pulled back from trying to figure it out for himself when a hand grasped his shoulder and steered him towards one direction. He looked at the hand, then looked at Kuroro.

"Okay… but first, coffee."

TBC.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously, I made Kurapika thought about using the man's family himself. Plus Kuroro taunted at how Kurapika could not retrieve his clan's eyes because he was too naïve. That's how my mind operates now, lol. It's just that I already wrote this whole story, chapter 4 and the second part of this chapter years back. I recently added the first part of this chapter after I read about Black Whale arc. (Yup, the businessman was a reference to BW arc.) I don't need it to clash with the whole story too much (where Kurapika seemed more meek and depending on Kuroro), so I had to tone it down. I meant for this story to be 'calm' for Kurapika to rest. But oops, I've forgotten and only realized this after I've responded to my urge.


	6. Where We're Going

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroro had his comrades accepting Kurapika as his...

 

_Special thanks to Yumii and Hanareader for beta-reading._

 

Chapter 6 Where We’re Going

 

After their quick breakfasts and a much needed caffeine dose, they reached the deserted factory where the Spiders let Kuroro know they’d be waiting.

 

The rest of the Ryodan were in NGL, dealing with the invaders. Thus, here in the dilapidated building stood only a few members: Nobunaga, Machi, Franklin and Coltopi. They scattered about the well-lit hallway with a good amount of light from the window. Franklin and Coltopi occupying different sorts of cargo boxes. Nobunaga and Machi standing against the wall. The latter two moved towards the doorway upon Kuroro entering.

 

Kuroro could tell Kurapika’s features relaxed with only four Spider members at present. He’d kept to himself that the feeling was mutual. No Feitan and Phinx here took half the load off the circumstances, there’d be much less dispute for his concern.

 

As expected, his comrades all wore a shocked expression on their faces, save for Machi whose face quickly turned expressionless after two seconds of a stunned look. They were told of the news, but nothing compared to the real Kuruta, well and alive, next to their Danchou himself. And of course, the only individual who flipped was none other than Nobunaga.

 

“Why is he still standing there?” At least, the man wasn’t yelling, but his voice strained with dangerous implication.

 

A sense of déjà vu filled the entire Ryodan and even Kurapika, reminding them of the first time

Kuroro had brought him amongst them. Except this time, it was with a different intention. The factors and variables were altered.

 

At any rate, everyone had questions of their own; it was only Nobunaga who had the biggest mouth to voice it. Most of them were aware of this thing developing between their Danchou and the boy. They could admit Kurapika was a remarkable individual. But still…for real?

 

As Nobunaga drew closer, most likely to his Danchou rather than to the object of his resentment itself, Kuroro extended his hand towards the boy, putting the blond behind him –an evident gesture of protection.

 

To everyone’s surprise, that made Nobunaga stop dead in his tracks. The swordsman stared in shock, his posture stiffened.

 

Via phone conversation, he had been given a direct restraining order to behave. But it was about time his Danchou gave him a good reason as to why Kurapika was still standing there. Face darkening, he called, “Danchou.” His voice dripped with dangerous implication.

 

Kuroro nodded in response. Not only to Nobunaga, but to the entire Ryodan whom he owed an answer to.

 

“I’m still bound by Kurapika’s Nen,” Kuroro started. He hadn’t really thought about what to say in order to convince them. For all his time as the Spider head, he had not been one to lie to his arms and legs. Treating them as his own was one of the reasons their ties were stronger than family. All of his motives and thoughts could be trusted with them. Yet for the first time since the Spiders were established, he was standing on uncertain ground.

 

“Seriously!? Danchou! Maybe you’re missing the part where his Nen is sealed and you should kill him!” Nobunaga raised, his vein already popping on his forehead.

 

Somehow his vengeful swordsman’s words served as a lead for Kuroro on what he should say.

 

He regarded his comrades again with a slightly different expression: resolve. “Yes, his Nen was sealed. I went there, planning to put an end to him, along with this dilemma I was in. But I changed my mind.” He tilted his head back looking at the boy who returned his look, face betraying nothing. “This tie I have with Kurapika, I do not want it severed, Nen imposed on my heart or not.”

 

If earlier, Nobunaga’s anger had simmered, it was now completely deflated. His mouth closed and opened, then closed again; no words could come out.

 

Behind him, the other Ryodan members had a brief look of surprise before their leader’s words dawned upon them. As far as Kuroro could see, they seemed to have almost no qualms accepting the fact. Although the biggest question formed in the unspoken air.

 

This itself put the future of Genei Ryodan in question.

 

“But Danchou! How could you just change your mind like that!?” Nobunaga began again.

 

“I just did.” Kuroro responded with a straight face.

 

“Are you out of your mind!?” The swordsman cried, throwing his hands in the air.

 

Kuroro put his hand under his chin, his eyes concentrated sideways, mind going over Nobunaga’s words. Him? Out of his mind? He gave Kurapika another brief look and just decided, ‘Whatsoever.’

 

Things were a bit unclear earlier but his thoughts were being sorted by the second. While at it, the quiet Kuruta didn’t escape the observing eyes of some keen Ryodan members. If it were weeks ago, his sharp tongue would have made some snide remarks already. Now he was just standing there, looking dazed and bored. Did he just yawn?

 

Not a word in his own defense, Kurapika just allowed Kuroro to protect him.

 

They hadn’t agreed on what or how to explain to Kuroro’s comrades. All Kuroro did was ask of the boy to leave it to him and Kurapika accepted it. He’d go with however Kuroro wanted it.

 

“So you still want him in our troupe?” Franklin raised, stopping Nobunaga from another outburst. Any acceptable reason was all they needed.

 

“No.” Shaking his head, Kuroro responded. That medical student’s words still as clear as day in his mind, mostly because of how Kurapika regarded his friend at that time. “Kurapika is no longer a part of the Spiders.”

 

“Eh? Then what is he?” Machi asked, even her usual uninterested facade turned into curiosity. Her hunch had been right all this time yet she hadn’t expected it all to come to this.

 

Blinking, Kuroro had to turn to the boy behind him. Like earlier, the boy looked back at him with an almost equally lost expression.

 

Exactly what were they to each other?

 

“He’s my…property,” Kuroro said, not tearing his eyes from Kurapika. He caught a passing glint of aggravation in the boy’s eyes, but it was barely there at all. He had no intention of provoking Kurapika, he just needed to lay on the ground of what he was to be in relation to his Ryodan. That much Kurapika should have known. His reason to them was the same one he gave to Kurapika’s friends back then.

 

“That’s not even an answer!” Nobunaga retorted as he began to pace around in frustration. At one point he stopped to realize his outrage wasn’t going to work with his ever calm Danchou.

 

Dropping the attitude, he took a deep breath and let out in a much calmer manner, “Okay, putting my personal vendetta aside, he put you through a hell of a lot of trouble. Months of being Nen-less, our troubles of finding the Nen-exorcist, not to mention we were always on the uncertainty whether or not our leader will come back to us.” Here he settled his gaze on his leader, eyes bore into him. “You may not realize it, Kuroro. You enforce all those rules about how the Spider can live on without you, about getting a replacement and shit, but you will be our _only_ leader.”

 

As soon as he finished that, he faltered as his eyes settled on Kurapika. He let the most valuable information slip in the heat of the moment. But no one made a move on that, maybe they were still caught off guard at his emotional revelation. As much as he knew Machi shared his outlook; Franklin and Coltopi were likely neutral. Well, if Feitan was here, this wouldn’t end well.

 

The stunned look on said leader’s face surpassed the look of surprise on Kurapika’s face behind him.

 

“He’s got a point,” Franklin filled in and said what he knew was on Nobunaga’s mind but he dared not say it, hating to be sentimental. “Kurapika sort of took you away from us…I’m saying this on behalf of Nobunaga,” he added anyways. When Nobunaga sputtered curses at him, he finished. “-who said it on behalf of all the Spider members, presenting here or not.”

 

Machi and Coltopi nodded firmly to that.

 

If Kuroro’s stance wavered, he did not show it, or so he thought.

 

One glance at Kurapika and he knew the blond was keeping his rising anger in check. Kurapika was most likely thinking about Nobunaga words; that the troubles Kuroro and the Ryodan had to go through was the smallest damage, incomparable to what they had done to his Kuruta clan in the first place, and in turn himself.

 

Despite agreeing to allow Kuroro do all the talking by himself, Kurapika now shifted at their words. Before he opened his mouth, a firm hand held him back.

 

“Kurapika. Go wait outside. I need to talk to them, alone,” Kuroro said, realizing a bit too late he shouldn’t be ordering the boy around like he did before. The atmosphere of the Ryodan and all could upset the boy’s state of mind. He had thought about coming to meet the Ryodan alone, but they wanted to see Kurapika with their own eyes and to his strangest surprise, Kurapika said he didn’t mind. Still, there were things he’d like to keep Kurapika away from, as of now. “Go, I’ll take care of this.”

 

There was hesitation, there was restraint, before Kurapika turned around and left.

 

Once the Ryodan found themselves only amongst their own, Kuroro sauntered closer to them, putting more distance between them and the entrance with a broken door. He’d wanted to make sure their voices wouldn’t reach Kurapika. He remained standing while posing a question at Nobunaga: “Do you think Uvo and Paku’s soul is haunting Kurapika?”

 

Nobunaga’s face turned flabbergasted. He was about to ask ‘What?’ but he knew he heard the question just fine. Given their history and that the question came from Kuroro, the strange question was nowhere near strange. He gave it a thought and responded in a firm tone “No.”

 

“He thought he was haunted by Uvogin and Pakunoda. Remember how he collapsed and fell sick after killing that one mafia who attempted to shoot me? His illness at that time wasn’t the product of his one kill alone. The major factors were from killing Uvo and Paku; that mafia was just an added variable triggering the repercussions of killing someone.” Kuroro relayed and waited.

 

“…well,” Nobunaga’s response came slow with uncertainty at first, seemingly coming to terms with the idea that Uvo and Paku’s death were responsible for Kurapika’s guilt. But he stood his ground with a dismissive: “That is his problem…not mine.”

 

Kuroro simply nodded to his answer, and he moved on. This time, he directed his question to all of his Spiders. “Do you think Uvo and Paku want any of you avenging them?”

 

The swordsman frowned. When he provided no answer, Machi gave her response. “No, especially for Paku.” Her usual cold gaze softened for the briefest moment as she repeated herself in a softer tone. “… no.”

 

“Yeah, there was no resentment in Paku’s memory,” Franklin recalled, his thoughtful eyes turning upward.

 

“Maybe not. But this isn’t about what they would have wanted. It’s what I want, as their friends.” Nobunaga stood by his will.

 

“Remember what I said to you when I ordered the Ryodan to leave York Shin but you persisted on staying just to avenge Uvo’s death?” Kuroro recounted.

 

Nobunaga nodded, looking solemn.

 

“Given vengeance is no longer our primary concern since these few years back, you should let the matter rest. If you can’t go on a day without the desire to avenge, then out of all of us here, you should understand what he’s been through, and is still going through, the most.”

 

Nobunaga made a face. Well, that irked him to the core of his being. Kuroro comparing him to the chain-user sent unwanted goosebumps down his spine. Yet against his will, those words from the little brat he actually liked came back to him.

 

_‘Why can’t you share the feeling you have for a friend with all the people you’ve killed!?’_

 

Whether anyone believed him or not, he did give a thought about it, despite how little said thought was.

 

“Danchou…” There was a hint in Nobunaga’s voice, indicating his Danchou’s words were sinking into him. Not to mention he actually knew this all along, the thing was just… “But since when do we give a damn about other people than from our own?”

 

Kuroro regarded his comrades for the longest while before his eyes turned towards the ceiling above. He too wondered when exactly was it he actually and admittedly started to care about Kurapika. Regardless, he was going to be honest to them. “I’m afraid I can’t pinpoint the exact ‘when’ either. But as of now, I think of Kurapika as one of my own.”

 

He looked down at the ground, thinking hard. Earlier, he was considering making it a rule for his Ryodan. Have them treat Kurapika as they treated his property or the robbed valuables; no damage or harm done whatsoever in any way.

 

Ultimately, having Kurapika under the protection of the Genei Ryodan would cut down a hell lot of possible threats lurking or tailing after the boy.

 

One brief look at each of them had him reconsider the idea. Kurapika wasn’t his comrades’ best interest, especially to some (if not most) of them. While he took himself as a selfish man, he couldn’t find it in himself to regulate the whole Ryodan just to serve this one personal motive.

 

At last, he deviated to clarify, “Kurapika is being tailed by a variation of enemies. Be it the Mafia wanting his eyes, hired thieves, body collectors and whatnot. I’ve taken down men who were a threat to his life…” He thought of Makiya, “-or a woman for that matter. Gave her and her bosses my worst for the damages they’ve inflicted on him. I won’t hesitate to do it again.”

 

His eyes looked up at the ceiling again, refusing to fixate them on anyone in particular while having said this. As much as he'd like to think 'there'll be no exception' when it came to the boy, his greatest concern was that any threat to Kurapika's life wouldn't be from any of his Spiders.

 

“This is…unbelievable,” Nobunaga grumbled with a face-palm, but his features were somewhat relaxed.

 

Kuroro hummed with a smile. “I share your feelings on that one.” It truly was unbelievable, very much so, even for himself.

 

“What has he done to you, Danchou? How did it come to this?” The swordsman questioned, altering the question around after failing to obtain a direct answer prior.

 

When Kuroro’s response was a blank look indicating he had no concrete reply to this one too, he made it evident with a slow shrug. Nobunaga slapped his hand against his face before his last question.

 

“Okay, what about the threat to your life?”

 

“He’s not going to kill me anytime sooner than I do him,” Kuroro assured them. Upon seeing the irrepressible doubt on their faces, he recounted what had taken place back then. “I told him the truth about Shal’s plan, of making him believe the Mafia hired us to kill the Kurutas.” There was a collective gasp from his comrades. Kuroro continued on, “By then I was already positive that he wouldn’t kill me. I left myself unguarded to him, only to have my anticipation concretized when he let me be at last, despite the resentment that was there.”

 

“You told him the truth,” Franklin trailed off with an air of reminiscence. “Did you tell him the entire truth? That there were more factors to the Genei Ryodan wanting the eyes?”

 

Kuroro regarded his comrades and shook his head. His thoughtful gaze dropped to the floor. “It won’t change the fact that I led the Ryodan for his clan’s eyes, other causes or not.”

 

They allowed the silence for a while, before the leader resumed the conversation.

 

“As far as I can tell, even confirm… Kurapika can’t find it in himself to kill me, or any of us for that matter. He wasn’t born a killer, and I doubt he could really become one. You see, even Paku and Uvo weren’t instantly killed. They were given a choice in which Kurapika must have hoped they’d obey his rule and live.” Kuroro recalled of that one certain mafia’s death. That must have been Kurapika’s first genuine deathblow, no doubt it’d upset him that much. “He didn’t want to, but he had to; I figured he felt it was his responsibility for being the sole survivor. What he had done to us was an act driven by his past alone.”

 

Kuroro arrived at his answer. “My objective is to get him out of living in the past and move on.”

 

He made eye contact with each of them until he settled on Nobunaga, “Nobu, I’m asking you on a personal level. Trust me on this.”

 

No matter how ambiguous or complex Kuroro could be at times, his explanation somehow sank in. Nobunaga had been with them for a long time and two weeks with the Kuruta. A whole lot of him could be vengeful but part of him could see how things were now. The chain-bastard did save his Danchou’s life, uncalled for or not. He’d lost his best friend and one good friend, and he didn’t want to lose another. Kuroro might be his leader, but he was a friend before that.

 

On top of that, when it all came down to it, Kuroro was a person whom he’d still follow to the ends of the world.

 

_A life for a life, huh?_

 

After heaving the longest sigh in two weeks, he complied, “Fair enough, Danchou. But only because he’s not a threat to your life. If he ever relapses, so will I.”

 

Kuroro nodded in acknowledgement and appreciation to Nobunaga’s former point. For the latter point, he responded, “Like I said, not on my watch. Unless if I died, I won’t be there to stop you.”

 

As he was saying, Kuroro noticed a gleam in Machi’s eyes, similar to Nobunaga’s. One thing Machi hated was the thought of him dying. Her unswerving loyalty towards him was distinctive despite the higher level of indifference she achieved. Their history dated a long way back after all. It was then he came to think her hostility towards Kurapika, a supposed threat to his life, was almost nonexistent. Whether it was her confidence in his ability to handle Kurapika, or simply her hunch suggesting that Kurapika wasn’t a threat, was a question for another day.

 

“Then what’s going to become of us? I mean, how do we rob and kill if Kurapika is around?” Franklin inserted, again, on behalf of his comrades’ pressing questions.

 

“In general, we don’t rob everyday. We will do the usual grand scale heist only once every few years. I’m sure I can put him somewhere else during those times.” Kuroro answered as if this wasn’t even an issue.

 

That drew another question from Franklin. “You mean you’d let him out of sight?”

 

“I let him out of sight before, we caught up later at a designated place.” Again, Kuroro said as if it wasn’t a big deal; as if it were natural to him and the chain-guy.

 

“Wait, wait, wait, Danchou,” Nobunaga interrupted, his expression bewildered. “If I was convinced I already understand the half of it, I sure as hell am lost again. You mean you let him… free?”

 

“Yes. He’s no longer a prisoner.” Kuroro was reminded he need to make that clear.

 

“And he actually agreed to meet you at that designated point after he was out of your sight?” Nobunaga’s eyebrow went up further than Coltopi thought was possible.

 

“Yes. When I fought Hisoka, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere near us, of course.” Kuroro realized maybe his explanation was not done well. The occurrence was foreign to him and he wouldn’t be surprised if his Ryodan shared that thought. Then again, this whole thing with Kurapika was all foreign to him. He was still working on understanding it himself. “We… worked it out, Nobu. It is mutual. He did support us with our raids back there, I’m helping him look for the Scarlet eyes in return. You could probably call it a truce.”

 

Nobunaga only responded after ten seconds of gaping. “…O…kay?”

 

‘Well..that should do it?’ If he could get past Nobunaga, then it’d be a safe bet talking Phinx and Feitan into this shouldn’t be too hard.

 

 _‘Maybe the hardest part is understanding this myself._ ’ But he smiled at that thought, he’d take it as a challenge. Trying something different and starting out somewhere was somewhat… pleasant and refreshing.

 

An audible sigh came from Franklin as he put a hand on Nobunaga’s shoulder. “Nobunaga, there have always been hints and signs dropping, scattering everywhere they go. It’d take an idiot not to know.”

 

Someone giggled…

 

They all turned to the source of that voice. It was Coltopi, the kid stopped the moment everyone’s eyes were on him, sinking back a little and looking sheepish.

 

Kuroro smiled at that. Well, at least one person found this situation amusing enough.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

In front of the deserted factory was an empty, non-functional fountain void of water. Kurapika was sitting on its ledge, under the shade of a dying tree with countable leaves hanging from it. He acknowledged Kuroro’s presence since he exited the building, eyes fixed on him as he made a way towards him. When Kuroro sat himself down right next to him, a palm span apart, he didn’t make an attempt to put distance between them.

 

“So?” Kurapika asked, his mood seemingly returned to being neutral.

 

“We’re in the clear.” Kuroro hummed, looking upwards at the bright blue above. “Don’t worry. None of them is any threat to you. But let me know if any of them becomes more than you can handle.” He turned to regard the boy. “And I’m sure you wouldn’t do the same to them either, yes?”

 

“…Of course, as long as they keep away from me.” Kurapika gave a slow answer, but it was firm enough. When Kuroro chuckled, he narrowed his eyes with a bored expression, asking, “Find anything amusing again?”

 

“Yeah. I just realized how we took turn explaining ourselves to our comrades…about us.”

 

Eyes swaying downward to the ground, Kurapika remarked, “They’re…awfully loyal to you.”

 

The Spider head gave him a slight surprised look at the given comment before he smiled to himself with a hum. “Not what you really expected from bandits, huh?”

 

“Not what I expected from Genei Ryodan,” Kurapika corrected, his tone with controlled frustration. “Before all this I was anticipating…” He stopped himself, looking unsure whether to continue what he’d started. Yet upon seeing Kuroro’s attentiveness and curiosity, he surprised himself by carrying on, “Either you’d be a group of bandits sticking together to reap each other’s benefits, or a band of murderers who expend lives without reason in Ryodan’s best interest. Not glued to each other out of loyalty and killing someone else to save one another.”

 

 _‘… and saving me.’_ He kept that last bit to himself.

 

From having observed so far, Kuroro could tell Kurapika was torn from that kind of expectation.

Without a doubt, he most certainly did not expect those sacrificing traits from the Spiders like Uvo and Paku, else he wouldn’t have carried the burden of ending their lives for this long. He needed them to be one way or another, not something in between. They just made much more problems for his conscience. Further complications.

 

It was evident in the way he turned deaf ears on him during their first few days together, only to return later to ask if he felt anything when he killed. Most likely he had been hoping for a different answer from before.

 

 _‘But there was nothing you and I can’t handle,’_ He mused and clarified with honesty, “Can’t say we don’t reap on each other for the benefits. But everything is a give and take, on an acceptable level.”

 

“I know. Not allowing a fight amongst the Ryodan speaks a lot for itself,” Kurapika found himself accepting that fact, following by a short moment of gaping at himself. No, he did not just approve or contribute to any positive attribute on the Ryodan in any way. He had to make a follow up with a firm point, “Still, none of these equates to my acceptance. These…don’t change anything.”

 

“You’ve got yourself good friends too,” Kuroro returned, pointedly ignoring those last few statements.

 

There was it again. The smile on Kurapika’s face upon the mention of his friends.

 

It dawned upon him that he might have only known and learnt about one side of Kurapika. Undoubtedly his bad side…or the worst side for that matter. The boy took him as his sworn enemy. Naturally, Kurapika would carry himself differently with Kuroro. Albeit their tension was gradually shrinking, in the wake of what had happened, Kuroro couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a person Kurapika truly was if there was no resentment against him.

 

Even Kuroro himself was weirded out at his own thought. Sure, previously he might have been captivated by that anger driven determination and his resolute goal to bring the Spiders down.

But that shouldn’t be all that ever was to a person, much more so for an outstanding individual like Kurapika.

 

Out of nowhere, evoked the desire to see the boy’s true self. The idea was alien to him. The man who wanted nothing in the world except worldly possessions now wanting nothing but to see the true colors of this one boy. And this one thing he couldn’t just rob to gain it, he had to work on it.

 

He wanted to know what aside from his friends could make him smile. He wanted to bridge that gap, to reduce their distance to zero. With that thought spinning in mind, he leaned in. He couldn’t quite catch the sudden shift in expression on the young face, too focused on wanting to get closer.

 

Their faces were inches apart before Kurapika fell off the fountain’s ledge, having backed away till there was nowhere else to go.

 

“What… the hell… were you…???” Kurapika failed to complete the question, voice shaken with doubt. His green eyes widened in disbelief.

 

“…” Kuroro brought a hand up to his lips, looking sideways. “….Was just… taking a closer look at you. Your eyes have so much detail in them. They aren’t merely red, they have a nice blend of violet and orange in them.” He paused when the boy narrowed his eyes at him. Did it seem to the boy he was muttering nonsense? He better make sense now. “Fortunately, Coltopi is one of the members present. I’ve already spoken to him about faking your corpse to the underground world.”

 

Kurapika frowned up at him, skeptical. “Well…shouldn’t you be looking when we are actually letting him set up?”

 

“Just taking precaution. Post quality control.” Wiping the uncertainty off his face and his hands off his lips, Kuroro smiled at him. He drew himself up and offered a hand for the fallen boy. He spared a comment on the boy’s ungraceful fall. No doubt Kurapika must have lost his composure from having his alarm gone off.

 

After a short moment of hesitation, Kurapika took that offered hand to get himself up.

 

“Post quality control, huh? Aren’t you so full of shit?” Kurapika attempted to look smug with that remark. 

 

“That makes the two of us.” Kuroro sneered. As the boy gave him an incredulous look, he reminded Kurapika of his previous remark, “These don’t change anything.”

 

He watched the boy gape back at him with another look of disbelief, most likely realizing his own prior mistake. The opening and closing of his mouth indicated his failing attempt for a smart comeback. He could retort, but Kuroro already caught him lying, another one only he could see through.

 

The boy’s face was all red, yet his eyes remained green.

 

Kuroro spoke through laughter, “I’m trying to make myself as clear as I can, for you. I’d appreciate if you’d be honest with me.”

 

By that time Kurapika could do nothing but growl, Coltopi appeared at the entrance of the building, looking at them with interest clear in his round eyes.

 

To help the boy save some dignity, Kuroro casually changed the subject, dipping his head towards where his comrade was standing. “Come. We don’t know how long they’d stick with us. Let’s get your corpse rolling.”

 

“Don’t you have better ways to say this?” Kurapika grouched as he ambled towards the man waiting for him.

 

“Just being direct, so we’d be on the same page.” Kuroro said, his voice still light. He extended his hand towards the boy, palm up. His laughter was held back when Kurapika faltered and stopped death in his tracks, looking at his hand with a twitch of eyebrow. Kuroro’s amusement must have shown on his face in the form of a shit-eating grin, if the boy was giving him that kind of glare.

 

“Do you think I’d get lost on my way from here-” Kurapika threw a pointed a finger to where Coltopi was standing at the building’s entrance, some sixteen meters away. “-to there!?”

 

“No.” Kuroro shrugged. Taking one step closer to the boy, he kept his hand outstretched, nothing but persistent. The boy stared at him in disbelief, then it turned observing and calculating. As much as he was having fun at the other’s expense (how active the wheels inside that blond head must be spinning now), keeping Coltopi waiting was downright inconsiderate. “Kurapika, you’re overthinking again. My hand is not a booby trap.  I’m just showing my sincerity.”

 

“What can your hand say about being sincere?” Kurapika scoffed, his voice lacking its usual ire. Then he looked at Coltopi and sighed, knowing better to get this over with.

 

Kurapika closed the distance between him and Kuroro and grabbed at his black sleeve, tugging him along. The day he willingly took Kuroro’s hand could come much later, if ever that were to happen…maybe in the next life or in some damn parallel universe.

 

“You know, there’s no different-”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Kuroro hummed with a smile, trailing alongside the boy. To him this was good enough as it was.

 

He knew he wasn’t alone in this seemingly endless journey of mutual understanding.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s done!!! For this story^^; I hope I left nothing out. If you think anything’s left unanswered, do let me know. Some unsettled things are on purpose, some are not. I’d probably tie up all the loose ends in the sequel “Carry On.”
> 
> If I finished this story years back, Kurapika would have the Ryodan as his protectors, under Kuroro’s order. Now I just think otherwise, lol. I’d need to fix Carry On too; my priority is that damn cliché kiss!
> 
> Coltopi…well, I just knew that he was just a kid.
> 
> Machi and Paku: I shamefully admit that years back, I thought they were cold to each other. I didn’t read them well enough.
> 
> THANK YOU to all of you who sticks up with me up until now :D, I’ll see you in CO! and as always, feedback will be nice, whether it be positive or negative ;). Thanks!


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